Electricity Consumers Protest In Jos
By CHAMBERLAIN ODEY, JOS
It was not altogether a good day for the Jos Electricity Distribution
Company on Thursday as a coalition of electricity consumers protested in Jos over alleged JED’s “outrageous and indiscriminate estimated billing system”.
The protesters drawn from civil society groups in Plateau state stormed the headquarters of the Jos Electricity Distribution Company along Ahmadu Bello Way, in the business heart-beat of Jos, with banners, some of which inscriptions read: “ No to estimated bills”, “no to un-calibrated billing”, “no to high tariff”, and “no to new fake meters’’.
Sam Tokz, leader of the protesting group, in a letter of complaint
submitted to the Executive Director of JED, Marketing and distribution, alleged that the billing methodology is disputable as charges stand above the consumption rate, especially in the face of poor power supply .
The civil society group also accused the JED of replacing old calibrated meters with new un-calibrated meters without proper sensitization and enlightenment of the consumers.
The group leader queried why the retrieval of the old meters that were
bought by the consumers.
Other grievances of the coalition include “the high charge on cost of
installation of initial units of the new pre paid meters in the sum of N7,310.00”, and “the lack of transfer of credit balance from the former meter to the new meter’’
They also demanded for equal tariff with other states such as Lagos,
Kaduna, and Abuja, where the charges per unit tariff for residential
consumers are in the region of N15, N18, and N19 respectively. They wondered why consumers in Plateau should be charged as much as N29.81 without consulting the consumers .
The group also demanded that their prayers should be adequately addressed by the JED between now and 24th of this month or else they
will be left with the only option of taking legal action against the company.
Responding, Engr Mansir Salihu Nakande, Head of Planning unit, JED,
told the protesters that some of the issues raised by the coalition were policy issues that JED could not make public statements on, assuring that they will continue to discuss issues raised with the coalition till an amicable solution is arrived at.
