Some residents of Osundairo area of Agege, Lagos have held a staff member of Ikeja Electric hostage over hike in electricity tariff and estimated billing.
The residents, who claimed to have been disconnected for about a month, said they were shocked when the Marketing Manager of IE, Dopemu office, brought to the community electricity bills for the month on Tuesday.
In expressing their anger, the residents seized him and his operational vehicle as they demanded immediate rectification of the hike in their electricity tariff.
It was gathered that the marketing manager was rescued hours after police officers were deployed to the area to prevent the breakdown of law and order.
The residents, however, refused to let go of the operational vehicle as they insisted that IE must stop exploiting them through estimated billing and hike in electricity bills.
Speaking with SaharaReporters, one of the residents who simply identified himself as Mayowa, bemoaned the exploitative nature of the electricity distribution company.
He noted that despite the irregular and poor power supply experienced in the area, the electricity distribution company brings a fixed bill of N25,000 monthly for each household.
He said: “For more than a month now, we have not had electricity in Osundairo after some electricity poles fell.
“They said they would fix it but it took them weeks for them to fix it.
“After that, they came back at night to disconnect us before restoring power in the area.
“We have not had power supply for one month now, and they are bringing a bill of N25,000. That is why we decided to hold the marketing manager down.”
Another resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, lamented the hike in electricity bills.
He alleged that the IE officials, as well as some top officials from the company, usually come to the community to oppress and victimise residents.
“They bring estimated bills for us every month. Even when our pole fell and we didn’t have electricity, they brought the same N25,000 as electricity bill for us.
“IE officials don’t read our metres, they just bring a monthly bill of N25,000 whether we use electricity or not.
“This is not good, we want the government to help us look into this and stop this estimated billing,” the resident said.
