FCT Residents Protest against AEDC Prohibitive Estimated Electricity Bill

 Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

Aggrieved residents and workers of Federal Government Girls College, (FGGC) in Bwari Area Council of the FCT, yesterday protested against estimated electricity bill by the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), which they considered to be high.

The residents embarked on the protest the moment they sighted some AEDC officials, who came for electricity disconnection, insisting they must remove their meter, which they alleged was an industrial meter.

They decried the estimated tariffs they were forced to pay monthly by the AEDC as ‘criminal and unjustified’ while demanding that prepaid meters be made available to them immediately. 

Speaking on behalf of the protesting staff and residents, the Union chairman of FGGC, Bwari, Ajiloye Samuel, said in spite the fact that each residents was forced to pay between N6,000-N7,000 monthly, the AEDC still calculated their outstanding bill to be in excess of N5 million.  He said that the school and residents had resolved to intensify their agitation until the excesses of the AEDC were addressed. 

“We are agitating for the light bill which the AEDC is giving us the residents and staff, the bill is too much for us and we are saying that we cannot pay the bills again because it is too high. 

“They’re giving us industrial bills from an industrial meter in which we are not manufacturing anything in school. We are all residents like any other customer in the town. So we are now telling them that we held a meeting with all the residential staff on Wednesday and agreed that when they come to cut the light, they should also carry their industrial meter away. We cannot service the industrial meter,” he said.