11 September 2014, Warri – Pandemonium broke out, yesterday in Warri, Delta State, over what customers termed “outrageous and strange billing” by the Benin Electricity, Distribution Company, BEDC in the metropolis.
Vanguard gathered that an attempt by some BEDC’s personnel to disconnect a building which is still under construction sparked off crisis at the 3rd Marine gate axis of the city.
This came few minutes after BEDC officials, who have been going around the metropolis on “disconnection assignment” disconnected the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Warri Correspondents Chapel Secretariat, claiming that the union was owing the establishment.
It was, however, discovered that the bill estimated for the NUJ secretarial did not bear the union’s name but that of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, NUT, which apparently was the reason for the huge estimated bill often sent to the NUJ House.
Meanwhile, NUJ members, Warri Correspondents Chapel have expressed displeasure over the recent electricity billing from BEDC in the metropolis and the alleged frequent extortion by BEDC agents with threats to disconnecting customers.
Mr Joe Ogbodu, Vice Chairman of Correspondent Chapel, who noted the anomaly when BEDC officials stormed the Union House to disconnect the cable, said: “That is how they have been billing us, they give us outrageous bills each month, so this month when they came, we decided to check their records and we found that our address was recorded as NUT instead of NUJ. We suspect the bills they have been sending to us doesn’t belong to us.
“We can’t afford to pay such outrageous bills. They often send us estimated bills even when we don’t get regular power supply.”
– Vanguard