By NewsBits
Electricity consumers in the South East Zone of Nigeria under the banner of South East Electricity Consumers Association (SEECA) has threatened to embark on a one -month warning strike if Electricity Distribution Companies fail to provide prepaid meters to all the customers.
The SEECA said its members, therefore, have decided to embark on the warning strike scheduled to commence between June 15, 2024, to July 14, 2024, night.
NewsBits reports that the association is unhappy that distribution companies strifle electricity consumers in the Southeast Zone through “high and outrageous estimated billing” and for this reason, insisted that they will not have it again.
The group which decided at the SEECA Consultative Assembly, SCA Summit held at Toscana Hotel, Enugu said though they have been grappling with epileptic power supply, they were much disturbed about the estimated billing, hence the resolve to embark on the warning strike.
“The warning strike shall commence on the 15th day of June 2024 and ends on the midnight of July 14 2024. This unavoidable step is a prelude to a more biting action if the South East Electricity Consumers are not individually metered with prepaid meters,” they intimated.
Explaining how the warning strike would be embarked upon, the national chairman of SEECA, Rev. Okechukwu Obioha said that all the Consumers on estimated billing would stop paying the distribution companies while the warning strike lasts. “Consumers will stop payment on estimated bills until the needful is done,” he said.
“We are saying, meter every consumer or we embark on strike. No prepaid meters, no payment,” he declared.
Earlier, the SEECA chairman, Enugu State chapter, Barr. Dorathy Oleka said that the electricity distribution companies do not have the powers to disconnect their customers without giving at least 10 days notice and another 2 working days before disconnection will take place.
Oleka also said that even after disconnecting a customer, the Discos do not have right to take away wires and cables they disconnected, adding however that disconnected consumers should not reconnect illegally when disconnected. The Summit attracted electricity consumers from the length and breadth of the five Southern states.
