Simon Adeyemi Soyombo, a retired civil servant based in Lagos, has accused the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) of refusing to deliver his prepaid meter.
Soyombo said he paid N118,503 to IKEDC for a 3-phase prepaid meter in August 2023 but IKEDC refused to deliver it to his property.
The meter was meant to serve his six-apartment property in Itele, Ayobo, Lagos.
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Before that time, the building was charged for power under the estimated billing system. However, the charges were simply too exorbitant, according to Soyombo. Considering his tenants and his business as a property owner, he decided to purchase a prepaid meter. But it has not been delivered since he made the payment through IKEDC’s web portal last year.
Payment Receipt generated when Soyombo made his department in August 2023
Payment Reference Information from the Checkout Page on IKEDC’s payment portal
“That house is supposed to be my retirement package, but the tenants are not willing to pay rent, and I understand. The bill for electricity is simply too high. Over N100,000 every month for just six apartments,” Soyombo said.
“When you ask six apartments to share about N106,000 every month for electricity, that’s more than N15,000 per house on electricity alone.”
Soyombo suspects the electricity company classified the property as a business apartment. He told FIJ that the label likely contributed to the exorbitant cost of power. He also told FIJ that he had exhausted all known options to get IKEDC to supply him with a prepaid meter since he paid last year.
“There is nowhere I have not gone to. I have emailed so many of them. Even recently, I was in contact with NERC in Abuja to lodge complaints about this issue. I have been to Alausa. All they just told me was to keep waiting. They kept on delaying me, and I have had to pay exorbitant amounts every month since then,” he told FIJ.
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In April, FIJ reported how the metering gap in Nigeria has only grown wider despite a $155 million investment to provide meters to electricity consumers. Power sector experts, including Raji Fashola, a former minister of power, have highlighted poor customer service by distribution companies as part of the reasons Nigeria’s metering campaign is staggering and power woes persist.
FIJ wrote to IKEDC on July 8 to report Soyombo’s plight and seek an explanation for the company’s poor customer service delivery. In response, IKEDC requested Soyombo’s electricity details, which FIJ provided. But as of press time, the company has not addressed the follow-up questions about when they would rectify the situation and how they would prevent a recurrence.
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