Anger, anguish, pain and confusion could best describe the disposition of residents of the World Bank Housing Estate Umuahia Abia state following the insistence of officials of Enugu Electricity Distribution Company ,EEDC, to disconnect their houses from public power supply over the controversial N47,000 monthly bill for July.
Hanto Daily News had earlier reported the two-day peaceful demonstration embarked by the residents on 14th and 15th August regarding the over 400% increase in their monthly billing for July which saw bills astronomically rising from below N10,000 to over N47,000.
Despite all efforts made by the leadership of the Residents welfare Association which included advising all to pay to EEDC the sum of N10,000, the distribution agency has in the last few days continued to massively disconnect houses despite paying the recommended amount.
The disconnection exercise which is brewing tension and anger, according to investigations, is currently resulting in heated debates regarding the next line of actions to be taken by those affected.
Recall, before the peaceful demonstrations, EEDC had disconnected the Estate without regards to even those using pre-paid meters.
Speaking with Hanto Daily News some residents called on the State government and the Abia house of Assembly to urgently look into this undue exploitation to forestall rash reactions.
They therefore urged them to subsequently direct the agency to discontinue the disconnection exercise and reconnect those already disconnected to ending the resolution of the issue.
The residents while warning EEDC against testing their patience and patriotism, wondered how the majority of them comprising public servants and artisans with earnings below N60,000 and even a little above N100,000 could afford such a bill and still feed their families in this choking economy and demanded immediate reversal.
Hanto Daily News gathers that if nothing urgently is done to address the matter, the peaceful people who had avoided confrontations could be forced to resort to other legal measures of protecting their interest.
Attempts to reach EEDC were not successful as at the time of the publication.
