The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has found the Ikeja Electric Distribution Company (IKEDC) guilty of corrupt and exploitative practices after it arbitrarily inflated electricity bills for residents of an apartment building in Abesan Estate, Ipaja, Lagos.
The discovery followed a petition filed by tenants after a marketing officer of the company, identified as Babajide Ososanya, allegedly inflated their bills when they refused to pay him a bribe.
According to one of the residents, identified simply as Anike Starmer, the trouble began in April when Ososanya accused the tenants of tampering with their prepaid meters and demanded a bribe to “resolve” the issue. When his demand was turned down, he allegedly issued them an underbilling notice and subsequently orchestrated the imposition of huge debts on their meters.
“In the following weeks, we were shocked to discover that we had been blocked from buying electricity tokens,” Starmer said. “Later, arbitrary debts of ₦463,845, ₦244,362, and ₦218,030 appeared on eight of our 14 prepaid meters after his so-called inspection.”
The residents said attempts to get clarification at the company’s Akowonjo office only worsened matters. They were reportedly asked to pay an additional ₦120,000 “penalty fee” before their power supply could be restored. Despite several letters and emails to IKEDC, there was no response.
Frustrated, the residents petitioned the FCCPC, which convened a mediation session on October 21 at its Ikeja office.
During the hearing, a five-man panel found that the meters were fully functional and showed no signs of tampering. The commission ruled that the overbilling stemmed from IKEDC’s internal feeder error and that the residents should not bear the financial burden.
The FCCPC ordered the immediate removal of the arbitrary debts on all affected meters and warned IKEDC of regulatory sanctions should it fail to comply.
Starmer, reflecting on the experience, said the case revealed a troubling pattern. “I discovered that almost 90% of the disputes at the FCCPC office that day were against IKEDC, mostly for overbilling. It’s clear consumers are still being exploited despite using prepaid meters,” she said.
The FCCPC’s decision has been hailed as a significant step in holding power distribution companies accountable for unfair practices against Nigerian consumers. /First reported by FIJ