OUTRAGEOUS! PHCN customers get 300% increase in monthly bills

One month after the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission introduced a new electricity tariff regime, consumers in Lagos have expressed shock and disappointment about the bills dispatched to them at the end of June.

Samples of electricity bills made

available to SATURDAY PUNCH by some consumers under the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company show that there is a minimum of 200 per cent increase in the bills payable for electricity consumption.

However, in a telephone interview with our correspondent, the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Chris Akamnonu, said it was impossible for the difference in any consumer’s bill to increase by 200 per cent because of the tariff.

Akamnonu requested copies of the bills from affected consumers, while adding that he had invited all his business district managers to investigate the cases.

Affected consumers have registered their shock and anger at the financial implication of the new tariff on their meagre incomes.

For example, a bill issued to Alao Kayode, a resident of Eyinogun Street in the Mafoluku area of Lagos, for June, shows that he is expected to pay N8,891 as against N2,995 in May.

Similarly Ndi Chukwu, who lives in a three-bedroom apartment in Ikotun, is required to pay N21,000 as against N7,000 for the month of May.

In both cases, there is a 300 per cent increase over the previous month’s billing.

Bello Alimi paid N2,500 as electricity bill in May. Now he has to pay N5,300, which represents a 200 per cent increase.

Also, Tanimo Oke, a resident of Thomas Ekun Street, off AIT Road, Alagbado, was billed about N4,000 in May, but he was shocked to learn that he had part with N7,970, for the June bill.

-Saturday Punch

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