Residents of the World Bank Housing Estate, Umuahia, on Thursday staged a peaceful protest at the Umuahia District office of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) over what they described as an outrageous increase in their July electricity bills.
The demonstrators, who arrived at the EEDC premises around 10:12 a.m., carried placards with inscriptions such as “World Bank Cries Out, Power Bills Higher Than House Rent” and “Estimated Billing Illegal and Criminal.”
Acting President of the Estate’s Residents Association, Mrs. Florence Kanu, told EEDC’s Operations Manager, Engineer Amaga, that some households were billed as high as ₦47,000 for July, compared to ₦9,000 in June — an increase of over 400%.
She lamented that the estate appeared to be billed higher than other areas in Umuahia, despite being occupied mostly by civil servants and retirees earning below ₦80,000 monthly. Mrs. Kanu also criticized the ₦100,000 charge demanded for prepaid meters, stressing that meters should be provided free to customers.
“No one is disputing the tariff increment, but arbitrary hikes are unacceptable. We have no industries here, and this is simply unrealistic,” she said.
Responding, Engineer Amaga attributed the higher bills to the estate’s recent transfer to Band A metering, explaining that the charges were based on existing meters, not estimations.
During the meeting between EEDC officials and residents’ leaders, security operatives arrived at the premises to maintain order. The talks, which lasted over three hours, ended without a resolution, as residents rejected a proposal to pay 80% of the July bill pending further discussions.
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