In August, Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC), an electricity distribution company serving customers in Lagos State, fined resident Nkechinyere James N51,500 for bypassing charges on her prepaid meter, an offence known as energy theft.

Located at 4 Irri Ibukun Street, off Federal Bus Stop, Shagari Estate in Lagos State, James is already three years into her occupation of the apartment.

But the house owner only procured a meter for the apartment less than two years ago. Before the meter could be installed, an outstanding debt of N82,000 was paid.

READ ALSO: After FIJ’s Story, IKEDC Cancels NN163,163 From Customer’s Strange Debt

DOUBLE PENALTIES

According to James, she was not aware that the meter bypassed charges.

“I have no reason to bypass the meter. I am decent enough to pay for my electricity bill and pay other costs. When they came in August and said I had bypassed my meter, I was shocked,” James told FIJ on Tuesday.

“Casting my mind back, I could remember that I was having issues with the power supply around May and I complained at their office. So, they came and fixed it. But the problem persisted.

“Some days after, I saw some people who appeared to be attending to customers’ complaints around our estate, I mistook them for IKEDC officials and complained to them. They came in and worked on the meter. I did not know what they did, but the problem was resolved. They added that I should ensure the meter is always loaded.

“I accept responsibility for not verifying who those people were. They issued me a fine of N51,500 and I promptly paid it on my meter.”

The front view of the building in Shagari Estate.

Regardless, the fine was paid accordingly. But the electricity distribution company (DisCo) had more shocking surprises for the occupants of the premises.

“I thought I had settled the fine but if I buy N20,000 worth of electricity tokens now, it will not last four days,” said James.

A screenshot of the fine

Following the payment, the DisCo levied an additional N68,000 each on the three apartments, including James’.

Speaking with FIJ, Oladele Adeoti, the property manager of the building, explained that the utility company had gone beyond the fine to impose other forms of unjustifiable penalties on other meters in the compound.

“IKEDC officials found that one of the three meters had been bypassed, making it to illegally consume power and avoid accurate meter reading. And they immediately disconnected it,” Adeoti explained.

“Two days after the disconnection, we discovered that company’s officials from their Gowon Unit had tampered with two other meters, rendering them inactive without disconnection.

“Upon inquiries, we were told that they had placed an extra N68,000 on each, including the offending meter, and they would remain inactive until the penalty was paid.”

FURTHER PENALTIES

Everyone in the compound thought their troubles had come to an end after the payment of the unmerited N68,000 penalty, but the company proved them wrong.

Their meters were not activated despite the payment. Naturally, they sought answers by going to two of the DisCo’s offices near them. There, they were told that that single infraction recorded in their building had attracted an additional N900,000 fine each on two meters and there was another N900,000 debt an old bill hidden from their view.

“Three weeks after the payment of the second round of fines, two meters stopped working. We checked and discovered that they had flagged both meters with an additional N900,000 each,” Adeoti said.

“I visited their Gowon and Ponle offices to register our complaints but they insisted that the bills must be cleared. Apart from the two meters, they told me that there was another old bill attached to the property with an outstanding debt of N900,000. This sums up all the debts to N2,700,000.”

Adeoti’s email of November 1.

Although the N2.7 million fine has not been paid, the company has thus far imposed a total fine of N2,904,000 on the entire compound.

Adeoti emailed the IKEDC and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), inviting the two bodies to investigate the unfair treatment.

“We have visited the unit and district of the IKEDC but they insisted that the whole compound must be charged N2,700,000 for the offence of one meter. This will be unfair if nothing can be done to rescue this situation,” Adeoti wrote in his November 1 email to the NERC.

“I have written letters to the IKEDC and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and they both acknowledged. All these penalties beg the question, why punish a whole compound for an offence committed by one person? They have already punished the offender and she had paid her fine. They then proceeded to impose two rounds of fines on all the apartments. I know of no law that allows IKEDC to sanction offending and even innocent customers in this manner,” Adeoti told FIJ.

A screenshot of the NERC’s November 2 email.

The NERC wrote back to Adeoti on November 2 to say the complaint had been resolved. But that was not correct.

READ ALSO: How IKEDC Used Prepaid Meter to Swindle Customer in Lagos

“Our support rep has indicated that your ticket has been resolved,” the regulator’s email stated.

FIJ wrote to the IKEDC on Monday, but only an automatic email response was sent as a response.
The post IKEDC Wants Extra N2,904,000 After Customer Paid N51,500 Fine for ‘Bypassing Meter’ appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.