Residents in the Mafoluku, Isolo and Oshodi areas of Lagos State have sued the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company over alleged estimated billing and blackout in their communities.
In a suit dated July 13 and filed at the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, the residents sought a restriction against IKEDC from disconnecting their lights in the communities.
In a circular posted across the communities and seen by PUNCH Metro on Sunday, the residents urged the electricity distribution company to obtain a court order to prove what they owed in court before disconnecting their lights.
The plaintiffs in the court document attached to the circular are Lawal Ekundayo, Ahmed Olayiwola, Olufemi Dasaolu and Chigozie Ike.
Speaking on the development, Ekundayo told our correspondent on Sunday that what they were asked to pay was not a reflection of what they consume.
According to him, some residents were allegedly forced to consume electricity on Band A without their consent.
He said, “What we have risen up against is a case of injustice; against estimated billings by Ikeja Electric whereby they asked us to pay for what is not a true reflection of what we did not consume. That is why we have decided to file a suit to restrict them from disconnecting our electricity supply. So if they say we owe them, they should prove it in court before disconnecting our electricity. We filed the suit against them in July and they replied that they didn’t need a court order before they could disconnect our light. If we have issues with them, they take it to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission or the police but when they have issues with us, they take the law into their own hands. How can you give someone N1.5m in a month and you say that person owes you? We have also not had light in the last few days. They claimed there was ongoing maintenance.
“In my area here, they put us on band C, which means that you will get at least 12 hours of power supply every day. Now, some people have prepaid meters in the same community and they put them on band A, of at least 20 hours of electricity daily against their will. You say someone will use a minimum of 12 hours and the person will not even use up to two hours. Sometimes, there will be no electricity at all and you bill the person. They have turned many people into criminals because people are now bypassing the prepaid meters and this is because that prepaid is smart, so they can control it in their office the way they want.”
On his part, Olayiwola said the case would come up for hearing in November as the circular was meant to create awareness indicating that the matter was in the court.
He added that this was the second time the communities would drag the electricity distribution company to court.
He said, “What we have posted is just to create awareness that we have approached the court on the matter. The case will come up for a hearing next month (November). We are not going to harass their officials other than to call their attention to the suit whenever they come around. Once the case is heard, we will work on getting an order to restrict them from carrying out any form of disconnection.
“We sued them in the Lagos High Court last year over the same matter but they manoeuvred and called for a settlement out of court. They also gave us prepaid meters for free just to silence us. When they discovered that we had stopped the case, they started again.”
The spokesperson for the IKEDC, Kingsley Okotie, could not be reached as calls made to his telephone were not answered. A text message sent to him had yet to be responded to as of the time this report was filed.
