In protest of what they described as a 400% increase in electricity bills, residents of the World Bank Housing Estate in Umuahia stormed the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company’s (EEDC) office on Thursday.With various placards in hand, the irate locals yelled that the estimated bills in their area had suddenly increased from N8,000 to N47,000 each.
They also bemoaned the fact that the EEDC management ignored their numerous letters regarding the unthinkable and exploitative bills, threatening to cut them off instead.
Kalu Florence, the acting chairperson of the World Bank Housing Estate Residents Association, demanded an immediate downward review while ranting in front of the EEDC office. If such outrageous bills were not reversed, she questioned how a public servant earning less than N80,000 per month would support their family.
Speaking up, other residents urged the EEDC to make sure that residents were not disconnected, cautioning that doing so might force them to take unpopular actions.
The Operations Manager, who only called himself Engineer Amaga, responded by pleading for communication to find a solution.
Later, he met with the group’s representatives behind closed doors.
But for the irate customers, the more than three-hour-long peace and reconciliation meeting did not yield the expected outcomes.
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