The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Bauchi State Council, has berated the Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JED) in the state over the activities of some of its officials who are allegedly in the habit of carrying out illegal disconnections, particularly on customers operating with prepaid meter,in order to force them back to estimated billing.
The Council expressed its displeasure over the development in a statement signed by the Secretary of the Council, Isah Garba Gadau.
The union said there is lacuna in the payment of power supply in the name of estimated bills,especially in paying for services not rendered including payments for darkness.
It condemned the activities of the JED officials who deliberately frustrate and embarrass their customers even those operating with prepaid meters, simply to force them adopt to estimated bills for their personal benefits
“The Press Centre previously paid between N1m and N1.6m monthly before installing a prepaid meter.We now consume about N50,000 per month, or are they sad because they could not get such an amount from us again? They have disconnected us twice, even with the prepaid meter. They do these illegal disconnections to force customers to estimated billing”
“As we speak,we are in darkness without any allegations of meter bypass. This is what many customers face in Bauchi”,the statement said
The union advised the Bauchi State Government, ministries, and agencies to look for alternative power supplies so that they would make a lot of savings from the outrageous estimated bills being issued to them on a monthly basis.
It also implored JED management to always engage trained personnel who have good human relations with customers to enable them to provide effective services to their customers.