Ikeja Electric (IE), has made a credit adjustment of N1,178,962, to Akinlolu Olaniyan, a Lagos-based environmentalist.
Olaniyan told FIJ on Monday that they received a notice that one of the rulings issued by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on December 7, 2023, had been complied with by the distribution company.
“We just got notice now, that this ruling has been obeyed and adjustment has been granted on October billing which came out in November. Thanks,” Olaniyan told FIJ.
“I guess it was before the story because it was on the monthly billing already prepared.
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The ruling issued to Olaniyan.
A screenshot of the adjustment.
“Since December 7 when NERC gave the ruling, It took almost a year, that’s too bad. If this is how it is, then it is not worth it, the regulatory agency should mete out sanctions [to the DisCo] for disobeying or delaying this order.”
The environmentalist said they discovered this adjustment during a meter reading: “We got this bill through a meter reading but it’s a maximum demand customer with a meter reader at the transformer so they give bills based on the readings.”
He told FIJ that the case was that of overbilling by Ikeja Electric which lasted for one year. He explained that their meter got bad and the distribution company connected them to the source directly. The DisCo billed them N100,000 every month for one year.
“Our meter got bad and Ikeja Electric was bringing bills indiscriminately for one year. They would bring N100,000 every month which was way over our monthly electricity consumption,” Olaniyan explained.
“We took the case to the regulatory body and they ruled that the adjustment should be made.”
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FIJ reported on Thursday and Saturday, how Ikeja Electric has shown a consistent pattern of not obeying rulings issued by NERC, mostly through the Ikeja Forum.
On Saturday, FIJ reported how Olaniyan received three rulings from the NERC in one year but the distribution company failed to comply.
Also, Olaide Olatunbosun, an overbilled Lagos resident, told FIJ that on July 9, NERC ordered the same DisCo to cancel his outstanding debt, credit his account with N41,336.56 (the excess payment he had made at the time), and compensation for the pain of paying the excess billings amid scarce resources in the next billing cycle.
However, Ikeja Electric has yet to comply with the ruling concerning Olatunbosun.
The post After FIJ’s Story, Ikeja Electric Makes N1,178,962 Credit Adjustment in Customer’s Favour appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.