The complaint lodged by a customer at IBEDC Ife regional office at Lagere, Ile-Ife on 25th April, 2024 brought about the revelation that all customers of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company in the region had automatically been placed on bands A, B and C while bands D and E are no more existing in the region.
The customer who simply identified himself as Mr Adekanmi purchased power of the sum of two thousand naira (N2,000) on the quoted date and found 33 units as against the expected usual 56 units, a situation which surprisingly gave him an economic punch, considering the situation of the country, according to him.
Curious to know what could have caused the shortage of a whole 23 units which could possibly carry his household for well more than half a month with the erratic electricity supply in his Oranfe area of Ife, the customer confirmed how he sternly took the sales officer up who later directed him to the customer care official.
“After searching for my record on her system for a couple of minutes and could not discern exactly the cause, she concluded that perhaps the deduction was based on my meter debt. I told her the meter had been purchased years back even with upfront payment and so her inference on the aberrated deduction of my units was far from reality”. Mr Adekanmi narrated.
The customer forthwith demanded to see the Business Manager in his office. “On getting to the Business Manager’s office, I learnt from his secretary that the man was new in the region and I was fortunate to briefly meet him as he said he was having some guest officials from their headquarters.
“He told me the change occurred alongside the federal government announcement of the new tariffs. In my objection to that, I told him the government announcement was made on April 3rd 2024 and was said to be meant for band A alone while mine is band E with less than 4 hours power supply per day, and I still bought power on the 4th of the same month at the normal rate.” Mr Adekanmi explained.
While the development was further investigated from the Business Manager, Mr. Joel Ojiako, he told our reporter that Ile-Ife business region had been upgraded to bands A to C only while other two lower bands D and E which the like of the customer in question was before had been scrapped.
On the further enquiry on whether the development is generally obtainable nationwide or intrinsically within the coverage of IBEDC only, Mr Ojiako said he could only speak of Ife region and that is what is obtainable in Ife now.
We further asked if the development was officially announced as people denied being properly carried along or informed in the town, he said “I actually told my officers to make it known to the customers and they told me they did.” Mr. Ojiako concluded.
While speaking with matterMATTERS247, the customer ultimately inferred that all excuses put up at Ife IBEDC office were not valid at all and did not go down well with him. He premised his case on his recent past experience with the office when his line was arbitrarily placed on a wrong band for months and paying for what he did not consume.
“When I later discovered that my units were just turning half of the power purchased per time, I reported the case to the office of the BM (Business Manager) in person of Mr. Olumide then. I was told to write a letter for the correction of what I didn’t cause. Well, I had no choice than to write the letter and it was dated 12th April, 2021. The letter was duly received by them with their official stamp on my copy (a copy was shown and released to matterMATTERS247).
“The correction was eventually effected after a month my letter had been received and I reported back to them. When I asked for a refund of the overpaid amounts on the purchases made during the wrong placement, I was told to write another letter which I also did. The refund letter was dated 4th June, 2021. Till today, no repayment had been made by IBEDC. It’s quite unfortunate they have such sheer impunity to cheat us as they wish without anyone calling them out for the accountability of their responsibility, the shit we cannot try with them! Now, they couldn’t explain to satisfaction why my 56 units suddenly changed to 33 units overnight,” Mr. Adekanmi narrated his ordeals.