Delta community laments huge electricity bills without power supply

Some elders in Agbarho in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State have raised an alarm over the continued billing of the community by the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) despite perpetual darkness occasioned by the failure of BEDC to provide its service.

The elders in a telephone interview with BD SUNDAY decried the resultant collapse of social economic activities of the people, calling on appropriate authorities to come to the aid of the community.

“It is over three months ago since we found ourselves in this mess following damaged two cir- cuit breakers. All appeals by the community to the BEDC to restore power to us have fallen on deaf ears. They continue to bring huge bills to us without providing the power for our usage. They have also refused to reply us on when power would be restored to us but continued to bring bills. The eco- nomic activities of the community are worsening by the situation,” said Emmanuel Oviri.

John Gbenedio, president general, Urhobo Improvement Union (UIU), alleged that power officials in the area only supply electricity for between 20 and 30 minutes in some neighbouring communities when they are going out for marketing in order to extort residents whom he said are desperate to have power supply even for 10 minutes.

“The BEDC boss in Benin is very stubborn. The woman has simply refused to listen to us. The power is generated at our backyard but they took us to a very far place for distribution. Life has been very frustrating for the people of this community because of the situation. We have exhausted all known avenues to have the prob- lem resolved to no avail,” he said.

Efforts to speak with the BEDC management did not yield results as Curtis Nwadei, its spokesperson, only responded to calls to his cell phone with “I am in a meeting”.

As at the time of filling in this report he had yet to reply text message bordering on the subject.

The BEDC, the corporate headquarters of which is in Benin, the Edo State capital, is responsible for power distribution to Delta, Ondo, Edo and part of Ekiti State.

NATHANIEL AKHIGBE