P'Harcourt Residents Decry Power Outage, Excess Bill

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Residents in Port Harcourt have decried poor electricity supply despite witnessing a relative improvement two months ago when President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office newly.

The residents who spoke with The Guardian said it was disheartening for the electricity company to be charging them exorbitantly despite the fact that they stay for weeks without light.

Some residents at Elabuchi by Ihediohamma at mile three, Diobu Port Harcourt, said they have not had light for the past three weeks yet received bills ranging from N15,000 upwards.

Angela Nnorom who runs a hairdressing saloon at Ikoku said, she has not seen light for about a month now, regretting that the development is affecting her business.

She said that she is the bread winner of her family of four children, adding that her husband lost his job last year. She further queried what magic the electricity company did when the people experienced relative improvement on power supply some months ago.

She prayed that the magic be continued and urged President Muhammadu Buhari to bring those sabotaging the power supply across the country to book to serve as deterrent to others.

Similarly, an artisan in Oyibo in Oyibo Local Government Area of the state regretted the epileptic power supply in his area.

He said he has not had light for over two weeks yet, received about N10,000 bill for the month.

The Guardian gathered that workers of the electricity company allocate bills by guesswork and not by the exact consumption rate by the consumer.

On the drop on power supply, it was gathered that the company is having transmission problems especially on its 60 MVA at Oginigba transmision station and as well, experiencing faulty challenges at its 132 KV lines covering Alaoji, Ahoada, Owerri and other parts of Rivers State.

Speaking on the development, Manager, Corporate Communications, Port Harcourt Disco (PHED), Mr Jonah Iboma explained that the transmission company is trying to carry out repairs and maintenance work.

He disclosed that the major transmission line Egbin station at Ikorodu Lagos State was down but noted that the situation is being fixed, adding that the company is bringing in more power stations.

He expressed hope that the power situation would improve soon and urged electricity consumers to try to pay their bills regularly.