From David Onuoja, Abuja
The federal lawmaker representing Amac/Municipal/Bwari Federal Constituency, Honourable Joshua Obika has called for statistics of all meters been bought in FCT, especially without refunds of money through credits scheme to his office for immediate action.
He stated this at a workshop on Electricity Consumer Protection and Resolution Workshop held in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
Hon. Chinedu revealed that he was the first person that called for a workshop on Electricity Consumer Protection in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja; as electricity has becomes a major problem among the residents of FCT.
According to him, “People are not getting the services which they paid for, our people in different Communities of FCT contributed money to buy transformers, cables wires, poles among others even when it is the sole responsibility of DiCos which Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) is part of.
“By law, it is the sole responsibility of AEDC to supply their customers all this but they did not and when the customers bought it themselves expecting a refund of the money, but couldn’t get it.
“On meter issue, when people buy meters, it is the duty of AEDC to refund their money through credits purchase scheme but the refund after buying it was the case.
“The most painful thing again is that, AEDC is not seem to be investing anything in the power sector. AEDC is a service provider like any other business, such as Globalcom, Airtel and MTN, few to mentioned. Is AEDC doing like those service provider I mentioned?
“Have you ever paid for GSM providers to erect their services antenna in your community? They erect their masks and generated revenue from it. Why will AEDC and other DisCos be different. This is pathetic and we would not allow that to continue.
“I initiated this workshop through the office of my SA on power, so that Public Complaints Commission will take it up from there.
“Any agencies of government or business that National Assembly makes their law, we have power of oversight over them.
“Let me use this to inform all the agencies that have power to regulate and oversees those under them to rise to the occasion. This oversight functions have started, and it can never be business as usual.
“How can a person in a village with mod house using only fan and sometimes with television be given an estimated billing of twenty (N20,000) thousand naira. We cannot allows that.
“Or how can someone who is paying a house rent of N60,000 naira, pay N240,000 for electricity in the same house. If others allowed that in their constituency, we cannot allow that.
“In the next two weeks, you will hear an advert through my office that anybody who have purchased meter (s) should submit their evidence so as to follow it up with the authority concerned and ensure their credits are giving back to them accordingly.
The parliamentarian equally vowed to compel anyone by legal means if need be for them to provide the services the people are paying for.