On Snake Island, No Rest for Residents, No Rest for EKEDC — Because of Prepaid Metres

Published 8th Jun, 2023

By Tarinipre Francis

It was at least 10 years ago, the first time Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) visited Igbologun community, and it was community members who mobilised to bring them to the island to supply them electricity.

The next time they visited, they arrived in the company of military personnel.

Basil Onyejegbu, an elder in Igbologun community and patron of Snake Island's landlord association, said it was because the impression they had of the islanders was that they were hostile people.

"I was on the committee that brought them in the first time they came. We said they should come and give us light," Onyejegbu said.

"For about 8 years, from 2006, we did not have light. When they came for inspection, the boat was over there. They swore that they would not come to this place again because they were afraid of water."

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True to their word, the disco did not return until August 2022. A police report and complaint tendered to the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), as well as increased interrogation on accumulated electricity bills and demand for prepaid meter installation by the community, forced them to return.

‘GIVE US PREPAID METRES; MODERN DAY TRANSACTIONS ARE DONE CASHLESS’

Igbologun community is one of the 10 communities on Snake Island, located in the Amuwo Odofin area of Lagos State. It is across the water from the Tincan Island Port and home to the Niger Dock Shipyard.

Until Niger Dock's privatisation in 2006, island communities enjoyed free electricity from the company. Now subscribed to EKEDC's services, they complain that the disco has not deemed it fit to establish an office on the island from where they could easily conduct their operations. Together with the absence of individual prepaid metres, residents say they have been subject to fraud, extortion, unexplainable debts and the monthly movement of huge sums of money by water, which they say is unsafe.

On December 8, 2022, representatives of Igbologun community took N700,000 in a bag across the ocean to a Zenith Bank branch on the other side of their island to pay into Eko Electricity Distribution Plc's account, but were turned away. The bank's network was down. They returned to the island with the money and made the same trip the following day, and again, were turned away for the same reason.

It was money contributed by community members for payment of their electricity bill.

"We wrote to EKEDC that this was very risky. Give us individual bills. Let the bill be in the name of the individual," Onyejegbu lamented.

"This ought not to be. Modern day transactions are done cashless, by transfers. If you give us prepaid metres, we will pay by any means."

Onyejegbu's complaint formed part of the demands that Snake Island's landlord association, on behalf of Igbologun, Igboeseyore and Igbosun communities, all island communities, communicated to the disco in 2022: that EKEDC do away with bulk metering and install individual prepaid metres for them, as well as establish an office on their island for ease of operations.

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Those demands were never taken into consideration. The community reports that in August 2022, EKEDC informed them that they would only install prepaid meters if they paid a disputed N75 million electricity bill.

Community members, however, refused and asked EKEDC to explain how the bill was accrued.

"They give us high bills that cannot be explained, and we have complained to them on so many occasions to give us prepaid meters… We are being given extraordinary, exorbitant bills," Onyejeagbu said.

The community is convinced that there was a fraud and the only way to halt it is by providing them with individual prepaid metres. They insist that their estimated electricity bills are amped.

The contested N75 million bill was accrued from 2018 to August 2022, when an alienated electricity committee, which claimed to have been appointed by the community's late and former traditional ruler, disbanded.

Following the dissolution of the erstwhile committee, Snake Island's landlords association volunteered to manage the areas’ electricity affairs and see to the installation of prepaid metres.

Joseph Adewuyi, the general secretary of the association, said they asked the members of the past committee for a rundown of the accounts but were only provided with PoS receipts.

"They did not leave any reports on how they managed funds contributed by community members for electricity," Adewuyi said.

Therefore, he does not solely blame EKEDC. There were people among them who participated in defrauding the communities, but EKEDC created room for them to be exploited, he explained.

"When we took over, we compelled EKEDC to give us their account so whatever money we paid could be traced," he said.

"To what official account of EKEDC were they paying this money? There was no trace.

"There was fraud, and for us to halt the fraud, give us prepaid meters."

Adamson Lateef, the sitting Baale of Igbologun, has instituted a case against EKEDC and the erstwhile light committee at the Alagbon police station to give an account of how the N75 million electricity bill was accrued.

As baale of the community, the bill is put in Lateef's name, on behalf of all Igbologun residents.

Community members say EKEDC uses this as an excuse to refuse to take their complaints into account.

"When we complain, they say it is the baale that is their customer," Adewuyi said. Yet, EKEDC has refused to tell even the baale how it arrived at the N75 million owed bill.

READ ALSO: ‘From N33,000 to N215,000 in Two Months’ — Woman Laments EKEDC's Outrageous Billing

Igbologun community currently averages N1 million to N5 million in electricity bills monthly, and collective contributions are never enough to cover this, heaping on already accrued debt.

This is despite community members cutting down on using certain appliances, like air conditioners, to conserve electricity and reduce bills, the baale said.

EKEDC has attempted everything except providing prepaid meters to Islanders.

In 2021, the disco imposed postpaid check metres on the islanders. According to Thompson Agidi, a member of Igbologun's landlord association, it resulted in a situation in which residents who agreed to have the check meters installed paid significantly lower prices than those who opposed the meters.

"We started seeing a situation where, I, a three-bedroom flat owner without a postpaid check meter, paid as high as N20,000, while a three-bedroom flat owner who used the check meter paid for way lower, sometimes as low as N3,000," Agidi complained.

Community members said it was within that period that they recorded the highest amount of unpaid bills.

When they visited in 2022, they said the community needed to provide poles for the installation of metres. This request is despite the availability of already-erected poles in the community.

READ ALSO: Ikeja Electric Punishes 400 Customers with Darkness for Protesting against Outrageous Billing

The community accuses the disco of letting off their responsibilities and forcing the community to provide the services that they pay for.

Adeyuwi said the disco headquarters in Marina said they had been the ones managing their facilities but that had not been his experience.

"When maintenance was done, it was the community that contributed money for the maintenance. Eko just sat down and turned the city into a cash cow where they just received money without doing anything," he said.

"I have never seen any business that receives money where there is no expenditure.

"The cost of managing the system is too outrageous. The committee that was formed was paying itself salary. Nobody approved them. People were paying themselves, and that money was from the money people were paying for electricity.

"Why are we paying for maintenance of the equipment of Eko and at the same time paying salaries to the people that are working where EKO is supposed to have a staff doing that job? It is so wrong and tilted against consumers."

Several letters and visits later, the community and the disco have been unable to find a middle ground.

Islanders resorted to reporting the disco to NERC, the FCCPC and police.

Late last year, community representatives were called to a meeting with EKEDC at the FCCPC headquarters in Ikeja.

Onyejegbu, who was at the meeting, said a female staff member from EKEDC said the community was hostile towards the disco and attacked them.

"Nobody fought them. What we were just asking for, give us a prepaid meter. They prefer this system because it favours what they are doing. If they install the individual metres, we wouldn't be spending as much. We wouldn't be the ones to service their infrastructure," Adewuyi said.

He said the allegations that the community was hostile towards the disco were unfounded, and that was the reason the EKEDC was unable to provide a report to back up its claim.

According to him, the allegations led the FCCPC's resolution to gravitate in favour of the disco.

Onyejeagbu said they were then surprised when the EKEDC arrived at their island in August 2022 with armed force.

"So, we were wondering why. Give us prepaid meters so that we can have rest, and you will have rest," he said.

On May 27, FIJ sent an email addressing Babatunde Adediran, EKEDC's Festac District Manager, the disco's Festac customer care, NERC, and the FCCPC, but received no response.

Adediran's email bounced back. FIJ also phoned EKEDC's customer support and was told the message would be lodged with the technical support team, who would respond to us.

At press time, FIJ had not heard from them.

Published 8th Jun, 2023

By Tarinipre Francis

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