Residents of Iree, Boripe Local Government Area of Osun State, have asked the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company to disconnect the town if it cannot provide a stable power supply.
According to the residents, the town has been battling with erratic electricity supply for over a year, while IBEDC continues to issue arbitrary estimated bills.
Speaking with Saturday PUNCH, a real estate developer, Prince Ali Afolabi, accused IBEDC of exploiting residents, saying that many who applied for prepaid meters were yet to receive them.
Afolabi alleged that the distribution company was cheating residents with black meters, which enabled estimated billing that often resulted in exorbitant charges.
He called for the intervention of the state government and urged the company to disconnect the town from its feeder to save residents from “paying for darkness” if it could not improve the power supply.
He said, “The company should exit Iree and save us from continuously paying for darkness. It is very bad that we can’t even have an hour of electricity in a day.
“IBEDC cannot continue to rip our people off.
“Businesses are dying, and many small-scale enterprises have folded up because they cannot afford generators and fuel to keep running. This is because IBEDC has failed to live up to expectations in providing power.
“We have made several efforts to call the attention of the managers in Iree and Ikirun, but nothing has been done. We cannot continue to tolerate their arbitrariness and exploitative tendencies. We can’t keep quiet on this—it is either they improve the supply to Iree or cut us off completely.”
Another resident of the town, Muyiwa Aina, also expressed dissatisfaction with the poor power supply and estimated billing.
According to Aina, only a few residents have prepaid meters, while many others who applied for them have yet to receive any.
“The maximum electricity supply we usually get is two hours. We have been living in darkness for over a year. Many businesses that rely on electricity have shut down because their owners couldn’t afford the high cost of petrol to run generators. IBEDC has not been fair to us,” he said.
However, IBEDC appealed to residents’ understanding, explaining that the company was experiencing some technical and supply challenges.
The Senior Communication Officer for IBEDC’s Osun Region, Kikelomo Owoeye, said, “As a committed and service-oriented organisation, we wish to appeal to the stakeholders and esteemed customers of Iree community to bear with us as we are currently experiencing some technical and supply challenges.
“We are working diligently to ensure that the supply we have is distributed equitably and efficiently. We also want to clarify that we purchase the energy we distribute to customers; therefore, we appeal to them to pay for the energy they consume to enable us to serve them better.”
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