An Associate Professor, Faculty of Communication and Media Studies of Lagos State University, LASU, Ojo, Prof. Tunde Akanni, has sent a petition, entitled ?SOS on massive extortion of customers by Ikeja Electric Distribution Company, IKEDC? to the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, FCCPC.

Akanni, who is seeking FCCPC intervention, had accused IKEDC of using its UNISTAR meter to extort him and countless others.

The Prof in the petition, said: ?This is to formally alert and seek your urgent intervention on the rampaging extortion drive by the above-mentioned company.

?As the sole supplier of electricity in Ikeja where I live in government quarters, IKEDC recently began to deactivate the UNISTAR Prepaid Meters Serving Residents of LASG Quarters at 47, Sobo Arobiodu Street, Ikeja GRA. The deactivation continued after FCCPC warned IKEDC against activities on the UNISTAR meters.

?What they do is await the exhaustion of the running credits on meters, allow customers to re-charge their cards but ensure they are not able to reload. Once this happens and you report back with your complaints, they would tell you that your meter was bad and due for replacement and that they have new meters in abundance. They would convince you to allow the retrieval of the UNISTAR meter.

?Once the customer begins to feel that his hope is merely hanging, the customers would be compelled to make desperate request for reconnection and they would deceitfully reconnect you but that would make customers pay through their noses.

?In the past, customers like me whose monthly consumption hardly exceeded N50,000 following the banding regime had been summarily billed as much as N270,000.

?Fellow residents of government quarters have had to complain to me on their helplessness and their dramatic bankruptcy on account of this arbitrary billing.

?In my case, specifically, my meter was retrieved on December 27, 2024, after recharging with N25,000, but failing to reload following their treacherous deactivation. Against my stated position that I was aware of the FCCPC directive to them, they insisted that I should immediately apply online for a new meter, reiterating that they had new meters in abundance but that I would have to pay N120,000.

?For fear of wasting all the foods stocked up in the house and to also avoid being slapped with any humongous arbitrary bill, I went to their office to follow up. The response from their customer care operatives at the Ikeja Office was that their portal was down, implying that all processes of new meter application had been stalled and, therefore, arbitrary billing would continue for as long as the portal was down.

?I, therefore, seek your immediate intervention from the shenanigan of IKEDC to stall their onslaught against lawful customers.

?If they have the effrontery to subject LASG employees living in government quarters to this embarrassing situation, one can imagine what helpless private citizens are being subjected to by IKEDC.? (Vanguard)

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