Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa
Most residents in Bayelsa State, especially in Yenagoa, the state capital, have backed the decision of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Central Zone to shut down the office of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC).
The residents insisted that it was better to suffer darkness than being compelled to pay for it by the electricity distribution company (DISCO).
One of the residents, who identified himself as Thomas Seleipre said: “There is no difference between now that the IYC closed the office of PHEDC and when their office was open.
“Maybe the only difference I can point out is that now we enjoy our darkness freely but before now we were compelled to pay for darkness.
“The amount of fuel I buy now to power my generator is still the same amount I bought before now. So, I support the IYC and we are not missing PHEDC.
” In fact, we are asking the Federal Government to look into the activities of PHEDC and consider revoking its licence”.
Another residents, Fortune Godson, described as untrue the claims by the PHEDC that its consumers in the state were owing N16.4bn.
He said: “Bayelsans are not owing PHED a single Kobo. If anything they are the ones owing Bayelsans for extortions through estimated billing. Have you ever heard MTN or Glo say citizens are owing them?
“PHED is a victim of its own fraudulent practices. They should provide prepaid meters for all their customers in Bayelsa State. That way, nobody owes anyone. And if anyone is caught stealing their power then, they can jail such a person.As of today Bayelsans ain’t owing them.
“We have been paying for darkness while powering our homes with our private PMS run generators. So we don’t miss them and cannot be blackmailed to go against the IYC.
“Bayelsans should stand firm with the IYC even if this fracas lasts for a year. After all PHED was not giving you light even when they were presumably working”.
The IYC, led by Kennedy Olorogun, has been at loggerheads with PHEDC for throwing the entire state especially the capital city into darkness.
Following failed engagements to resolve the problem of power supply, Olorogun led the youths to shut down the office of the disco in Yenagoa and sent all the company’s workers home.
The angry youths locked the gate leading to the premises of the company, placed plantain stems and suckers to the entrance and used the IYC flag to barricade the area.
The youths described the PHEDC, which is in charge of the state, Rivers, Cross River and Akwa Ibom states, as an irresponsible firm and called on the Federal Government to revoke the license issued to PHEDC insisting that the firm was incompetent.
Olorogun said the state especially Yenagoa had been in darkness for as long as the existence of PHEDC in state saying the company had made life in Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa horrible.
He said PHEDC had forced many businesses to close shops in Yenagoa because of consistent darkness in the city adding that its activities contributed to some pockets of criminal activities in the area.
He said: “We have been engaging this company on the need to give Yenagoa some hours of electricity everyday. We once gave them a 14-day ultimatum to remove all the light breakers to ensure that whenever they give light all parts of Yenagoa enjoy the light. But they didn’t honour the ultimatum.
“We decided to shut down their office in Yenagoa and sack all their staff. They should go home because they have no reason to operate in Bayelsa.
“How can you say you are a Disco yet you cant give electicity to a city where your office is located? Among the discos, PHEDC is the worst.
“The company is very irresponsible and incompetent. They lack the capacity to do this job and they have continued to display it.
“We are calling on the Federal Government to revoke the license it granted to PHEDC and issue a fresh license to any other company with the capacity to give us light.
“We will continue to barricade their office in Yenagoa until either their license is revoked or they make serious commitment to live up to their responsibilities”.
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But the PHEDC, in its earlier statement signed by the company’s Manager, Corporate Communication, John Onyi, said its customers in Bayelsa was owing about N16.5bn.
It was gathered that the statement provoked the residents, who wondered how the company came up with such huge figure amidst darkness in the state.
Onyi, however, in his recent statement, saidnthe amount was.not a fluke insisting that the electicity debt of customers in Yenagoa had posed a serious threat to its sustainability.
Explaining the figure further, he said: “An updated record, as at December 2019 now stands at N16.6bn. A breakdown of the figure showed that PHED inherited N5.9bn from the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) on 31st October 2013 while the balance of *N10.6bn was from November 1, 2013 till December 2019.
“Further analysis showed that residential customers-R2 had *N13.5bn while State Ministries, Department and Agencies, MDAs, Yenagoa had N2.6bn. wFederal MDAs have an outstanding N91.6m leaving the balance to Private maximum demand and commercial maximum demand customers.
“It is also noteworthy to mention that the average electricity monthly billing in Yenagoa based on the allocation from the national grid clocks around N159m out of which PHED receives an average payment of *N27.5m with a customer population of 21,453. It is unbelievable that only 3,555 customers representing 17 per cent are the ones paying their electricity bill on monthly basis out of the said population of 21,453.
“From the above figures, it is very pertinent to state unequivocally that the behavioral payment pattern of the customers in Yenagoa has left so much to be desired and one begins to wonder how PHED and indeed the power sector would survive in the midst of the skyrocketing debt and hostilities”.
Onyi said it was regrettable that the economic activities in the state had been paralyzed arising from the action of the IYC adding that it was ideal to bring to public knowledge that the demand and consumption of electricity had a cost element which had ceased to be the case in Bayelsa.
“PHED completely distances itself from any economic dislocation inflicted on its valued customers in Yenagoa arising from the unlawful action of the IYC to keep the state in total darkness but deems it appropriate to set the record straight.
“We therefore, call on all relevant authorities such as security agencies, government functionaries to prevail on the IYC to vacate PHED offices to enable us serve our esteemed customers satisfactorily”.
But Olorogun countered the claims of PHED saying the company was being economical with the truth.
“It is baffling that the PHED is still flaunting such outrageous figures as debt profile in Bayelsa. How did they calculate it? All we have known since this company began operation in Bayelsa has been darkness.
“Initially they said it was N16.5bn. Now with their latest statement it increased slightly to N16.6bn. Within the period of this increment, their office was shut down. But they still believe we should pay for darkness.
“This goes to show that all other figures they are bandying as debts were calculated based on the darkness we have suffered since their operation in Bayelsa. We will continue to occupy their office because we are tired of paying for darkness”, he said.
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