By Ushang Ewa
No fewer than 600 electricity consumers from Efut Musaha Clan in Calabar South, Thursday stormed the Customer Care Centre of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) protesting alleged poor services rendered by the company.
The Nation reports that the protesters who carried different placards with inscriptions such as “We pay huge bills without light’, ‘Calabar South has been in darkness for over six months now’, PHEDC, we say no to estimated billing system’, among others threatened they will no longer pay bills and warned the PHEDC to desist from issuing estimated bills to residents.
“Henceforth, residents of Efut Musaha Clan will no longer pay any dime into the coffers of PHEDC unless light is quickly restored in the area,” said Daniel Denis, spokesperson for the protesters.
“God himself does not dwell in darkness and anybody who wants the people to live in darkness is an agent of darkness.
“We will adopt no light, no pay policy in this area because we can no longer afford to pay bills and live in darkness.
“We have suffered blackout for long despite the fact that we make payment to the coffers of PHEDC monthly,’’ Denis said and called on the PHEDC to take actions against staff who now issue estimated bills of NGN25,000 to flats as against NGN12,000 per month.
In a similar vein, the Clan Head of the Efut Musaha clan, Mkpang Bassey-Edet maintained he, alongside his subjects will no longer pay light bills until the PHEDC restores power to the area, and adequately while Uduak Okon reiterated Daniel’s call for proper billing.
Addressing the protesters, the business manager of the PHEDC in the state George Chinwo, who addressed the protesters, commended them for conducting themselves in a peaceful manner.
He assured them that the company was doing its best to restore power in the area.
On the issues of estimated billing, Chinwo said the company would look into the matter with a view to making the payment system easy for the people.
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