Umuahia Residents Protest 500% Electricity Bill Hike

World Bank Housing Estate Residents’  Association, Umuahia, have protested over Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) increase of their electricity bills from N9,000 to N47,000 per house for July.

They displayed various placards with inscriptions: “World Bank houses power bills higher than house rent”, and “Estimated billing illegal and criminal”, among others at the EEDC office in the Abia State capital.

Their acting president, Florence Kanu, described the increase as astronomical and unprecedented, urging the EEDC to review them downward to enable the members settle them.

The spokesperson wondered why the bills, which she said were increased by over 522 percent, are higher than those of other housing estates in and around the capital city.

Kanu said: “Majority of us as you must have observed are either civil servants earning barely enough, artisans, or pensioners and can’t afford to pay the bills if allowed .”

‎She complained that many of them had applied for the EEDC’s prepaid meters, but were asked to pay as much as N100,000, “for a metre that should be given free to subscribers”.

In a response, the Umuahia District EEDC operational manager, Engineer Amaga explained that the increase followed “the transferring of the estate to Band A metering”.

According to him, there is nothing the district could do about the increase adding that the metering was obtained from their old meters and was not based on estimation.