Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
Umuahia residents yesterday embarked on a peaceful protest to register their grievances over what they described as an outrageous hike in electricity bills.
According to some of the protesters, their monthly electricity bill rose from ₦17,000 in August to between ₦50,000 and ₦70,000 in September.
Dissatisfied with the development, the protesters marched to the Bende Road office of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) to lodge their complaint.
The protesters, who chanted solidarity songs, later marched to the Government House entrance gate, where they were addressed by Governor Alex Otti.
They carried placards with various inscriptions such as: “₦50,000 electricity bill per month is evil,” “Electricity bill now higher than house rent,” “Otti should save us from capitalists,” and “Give us prepaid meters, not estimated bills,” among others.
The protesters decried the latest hike in electricity bills, where some flats in a building received as high as ₦50,000, ₦65,000, ₦70,000, and ₦80,000 as estimated bills, describing it as outrageous.
They contended that many residents are low-income earners and civil servants who struggle to eke out a living.
According to them, they had been getting bills of ₦7,000 before August, when it was increased to ₦17,000, but jumped to ₦50,000 and ₦70,000 in September.
One of the protesters queried: “As a civil servant, if I spend ₦50,000 out of my monthly salary of ₦75,000 on electricity alone, how can I cope with ₦25,000 for the rest of the month?
“That means they want us to become their slaves,” the protester, who pleaded anonymity, lamented.
Another protester, Mr. Chukwuemeka Odigbo, also a civil servant from Ward 2 in Umuahia, said there was no justification for the outrageous hike.
“We are here for a peaceful protest about the harsh and very high electricity bill. The last bill we got was about ₦10,000, and suddenly we are receiving bills of ₦60,000,” he said.
Another resident, Mr. Nnamdi Okenwa, who said he was on a prepaid plan, lamented that getting a prepaid meter was not even the solution, as the tariff was also high.
“I am on prepaid, and I normally pay ₦3,000 because I don’t use much light. But right now, I pay ₦15,000 or ₦17,000 without even making use of the light,” he said.
The protesters, in a petition by their lawyer, Kekechi Uwaezuoke of Chimdiebube Chambers, described the hike as “absurd and unacceptable.”
A copy sighted by our correspondent read: “It is our instruction that our clients, many of whom are on estimated billing, were charged the total sum of ₦50,000.00 just for the month of September 2025.
“This is worrisome, as at no time in the history of power supply had anybody been charged that exorbitant fee for just one month, even if they each owned a manufacturing company.
“Again, it is imperative to point out that most of our clients live within residential areas and do not make use of any heavy-duty equipment. This is absurd, unprecedented, and unacceptable.
“The reason behind this petition is none other than the fact that asking our clients to pay the sum of ₦50,000 a month as electricity bill is preposterous and unachievable. This amounts to ₦600,000 per annum. How many of them earn such an amount?”
The petition demanded a return to the status quo.
Responding to the complaints of the protesters, the Head of Commercial at EEDC Abia State, Mr. Festus Iwuala, explained that the recent tariff increase was not the making of the company but due to the upgrade of the electricity feeder supplying the affected areas from Band B and C to Band A.
He said: “The feeder, which was previously billed under Band C and Band B, was upgraded to Band A on September 1, 2025, after meeting the requirements set by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).”
Iwuala said EEDC followed due process and obtained the necessary approval from NERC before implementing the new tariff.
He noted that customers could access prepaid meters through the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) and the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) scheme.
“Customers should take advantage of the NMMP and MAP programmes to avoid estimated bills and ensure accurate metering,” he advised.
Iwuala added that EEDC had not applied the cap unit to customers’ bills but would reconcile them for those who raised complaints and urged customers to cooperate with the company to find a lasting solution.
“EEDC is a regulated business, and the tariff increase is not within our control,” Iwuala said.
Meanwhile, the protesters were addressed at the Government House entrance gate by the Commissioner for Power and Public Utilities, Mr. Ikechukwu Monday.
Governor Alex Otti, represented by the Commissioner, commended them for their peaceful conduct and assured that the government would take their complaints seriously.
Otti acknowledged that electricity supply in the state had improved but stressed the need for fairness in billing.
“What is very, very painful and demanding of our people is that they should be fairly billed. That means people want to pay for what they use, what they consume,” he stated.
The governor said his administration was working towards taking full charge of the electricity market in Abia and establishing its own regulatory authority.
“We will take full charge of this electricity market in Abia State, and we will make it work for our people, for Abians,” he said.
He, therefore, asked the protesters to submit written complaints along with supporting documents to facilitate the official intervention of the state government.
