Residents around Cement Bus Stop in the Ikeja Local Council Development Area of Lagos State have expressed dissatisfaction with Ikeja Electric (IE) over power outage in their community since 2016.

Also caught in the web of power outage are residents of Ejigbo in Oshodi-Isolo local government area. Ejigbo has been worst hit in the streak of blackout in Lagos area. Residents of the area said the local office of Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) has manifested incompetence over the years, claiming that in spite of the contributions the residents had been forced to make to purchase certain materials the story remains the same.

A resident of Ejigbo told our correspondent that they have been without electricity since Saturday last week and all “the PHCN officials kept telling us is that there was a fault that needed to be rectified”.

In his complaint, Chief Toyin Oko-Osi, Baale of Cement Bust Stop community, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Friday, said that the community had suffered power outage for a full year.

“We have been in darkness for a full year from February 2016 to January 2017.

“It took the efforts of leaders of the community to source for another transformer.

“Shortly afterwards, IE started giving us outrageous estimated bills in the community,” he recalled.

Mr Bunmi Olajide, an elder statesman of the community bitterly lamented the outrageous bills that followed restoration of power, saying that they were at variance with the volume of power supplied to the community.

“Estimated bills ranging from N10, 000 to N30, 000 were being distributed per flat by IE, without the meters being read.

“We met with the District Manager, Lanre Yusuf, armed with some copies of the bills and he promised to do something about it, but as we speak, nothing has been done.

“In fairness to them, from Jan. 2018, power supply rose when cumulatively calculated to ten days, as against the five that was obtained initially,” he said.

Barrister Abdulazeez Adeleke, a youth leader, said that the transformer did not last for long as a result of the carelessness of an employee of IE.

“We know that every transformer has its load capacity.

“However, one Engineer Victor came and began to add some extra street loads to the transformer.

“Immediately we noticed the development, we called his attention to it and he said that he was to be held responsible should anything happen to the transformer.

“As a result of this, few weeks later, we heard an explosion at midnight from the transformer and our ordeal began afresh.

“We immediately wrote to IE intimating them of the development; reporting the self-acclaimed Engineer but to our surprise, we were told he was not an engineer.

“The mini power station at Asade, a nearby community, from where we generate power, had issues which led to us sharing power.

“An act which led to a power supply sharing ordeal of one day on, two days off,’’ he recalled.

Mr Rufai Adewale, another youth leader, said that some residents of the community had made payments for prepaid meters with receipts of payments but had yet to be supplied.

“Payments have been made for prepaid meters but as we speak, not a single meter has been issued out, so I wonder where the so called estimated figures are gotten from,’’ he said.

Adewale added that several efforts had been made to resolve these issues but proved abortive.

“We wrote to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and a panel was set up with a hearing date between our community and Ikeja Electric fixed for Jan. 24, 2018.

“The verdict of the NERC was that those with working meters paid 100 per cent of whatever estimated bill was brought to them and those without meters were asked to pay 60 per cent of the estimated bills.

“After the hearing, we urged residents to comply with the payments and they did,’’ he said.

However, the next set of bills threw everyone off balance as we were faced with such obnoxious figures.

“A flat was asked to pay N20, 000 and some others N30, 000.

“A house with four flats would then pay between N80, 000 and N120, 000 based on the estimated bills.

“How is that even possible in a residential area and not an industrial area?

“We believe that the bills brought to us are outrageous and purposeful and we suspect we are being made to pay for the one year period we had no power supply to the area,’’ he said.

Adewale called for a round table session where these issues could be ironed out and modalities for payment discussed.

“We want an improvement in the supply of electricity as businesses, especially those that deal with the sales of soft drinks, water and frozen foods run at very minimal profits.

“We call on the government to help us out. We would appreciate every effort the Lagos State Government can employ to ensure that this issue becomes a thing of the past,’’ he said.

Mr Felix Ofulue, Head, Corporate Communications of IE, did not respond to several calls and messages to his telephone line.