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Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
Residents of Omagba Phases I and II in Onitsha North Local Government Area of Anambra have protested plan by the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) to swap their pre-paid meters for new ones.
The protesting residents were led by the leadership of the Omagba Landlord Association, Chief Emma Ejekwone and Chief Jonathan Ifeme, who stormed the EEDC Network Manager Onitsha office where they met Mr. Stanley Ani and other management staff of the company.
Over 1,000 Omagba residents vowed to resist attempts to forcefully remove or withdraw their existing prepaid meters and demanded that customers already using prepaid meters in Omagba, be allowed to recharge to have electricity.
They also expressed anger over the decision of EEDC to keep them in darkness at Omagba Phase 1 Sub Office by not allowing them to recharge their prepaid meters.
They said the way EEDC wanted to carry out its old prepaid meter decommissioning exercise was suspicious. They also expressed the fear that the new prepaid meter would be used to rip them off as it is believed to run faster.
The protesters wondered why EEDC should withdraw an existing prepaid meter used by customers who were not complaining of any fault in its usage.
They asked EEDC management to give way to another contractor if they are not capable of meeting the demands of customers n the South East.
“We vehemently reject the assurance and undertaking by EEDC to swap the meters for the affected customers without any down payment and the 24 months to pay back the cost of the meters. We wonder why the EEDC is embarking on a decommissioning exercise when it is yet to provide prepaid meters to the residents of Onitsha and its environs more than 10 years after its introduction,” Ejekwone said.
All explanations by EEDC team led by Mr. Ani to convince the Omagba residents that it meant well for them fell on deaf ears. They insisted on EEDC providing electricity to customers by allowing them recharge their prepaid meters to have power before any negotiation could be done.
They gave EEDC 24 months to pay back the cost of the meter.
The Omagba residents vowed to resist the decommissioning of old meters by EEDC describing it as fraud and an attempt to rip them off.
