- accuse IBEDC of exploitation
People of Iree, in Boripe Local Government Area of Osun State have lamented epileptic power supply in the community
They accused Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company of short-changing them through estimated billing.
Expressing their dissatisfaction with the load shedding plan introduced by IBEDC, they said it was arbitrary, exploitative and fraudulent.
People of the town have been living in darkness despite huge payments for electricity, questioning why they should continue paying so exorbitantly for what they did not consume.
Few residents with prepaid meters have been battling with arbitrary electricity units which disappear in the meter even when there has been power outage.
Addressingreporters on behalf of the town, a prominent prince in Iree, Ali Afolabi, asked IBEDC to take its services out of the town if electricity supply cannot be improved upon.
Decrying what he termed as the exploitative tendencies of IBEDC, Afolabi said residents of Iree have been paying for darkness, adding that many who applied for prepaid meters were not given.
He asked the company to account for the bills it has been collecting from consumers with black meters, further alleging that some officials of the company might have failed in remitting cash paid bills to the company.
Afolabi insisted that if IBEDC would not live up to its expectations by supplying adequate power to the town, “The company should exit Iree and save us from paying for darkness. It is very bad that we can’t even have an hour electricity supply in a day.”
According to him, several businesses have crumbled owing to lack of power supply and that multiple efforts made to draw the attention of IBEDC managers in the town and Ikirun to the ugly development proved abortive.
“IBEDC cannot continue to rip our people off. Businesses are dying and many who operate small scale enterprises have folded up just because they cannot afford generators and fuel to keep their businesses running. This is because IBEDC failed to live up to its expectations in the area of providing power.
“We have made several efforts to call the attention of the managers of Iree and Ikirun to it but nothing has been done.
“Our personal findings revealed that IBEDC is only interested in milking our people dry because they failed to make available quality feeder that could ensure that the people of Iree get regular supply of electricity.
“This company is all about dishing out crazy bills to its customers without making available necessary equipment that would make power available. We cannot continue to tolerate their arbitrariness and exploitative tendencies,” he said.
Afolabi called for an intervention from the government, and asked the distribution company to either be up to its responsibility or disconnect the town from its feeder to save people from paying for darkness.
“We can’t keep quiet on this, it is either they improve supply to Iree town or cut us off totally. We cannot continue to be scammed. Even when those who use prepaid should maintain their units in course of the prevailing darkness, they still have to keep paying because these units vanish from their prepaid meters. We suspect that IBEDC might have disrupted the meters to further exploit us. Governments should make IBEDC sit up because we are running out of patience,” he said.
Meanwhile, the electricity distribution company, while reacting, appealed to stakeholders and power consumers in Iree town to bear the anomaly, saying that it was due to “technical and supply challenges.”
Kikelomo Owoeye, Senior Communication Officer, Osun Region, said the company was working on possible ways to ensure regular power supply in the community.
“We are diligently working to ensure that the supply we have is distributed equitably and profitably while urging them to exercise patient as everything is under control.”
