The Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Yaba, Lagos, may be thrown into total darkness from Monday, April 28th, as the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), which supplies electricity to the area, has issued a final notice to disconnect the facility from the national grid if it fails to pay N89.4 million in accumulated electricity bills by then.
According to him, “The monthly bill from EKEDC to NIMR is extremely outrageous, as the calculation is not even based on the newly introduced Band ‘A’ Tariff circle, but on estimated billings, which the institute cannot cope with.”
Referring to some recent past electricity bills, Obafunwa said, “We were charged about N49 million in August last year, N48 million in September, N44 million in October, it went down to N34 million in November, and rose again to N43 million in December. It continued in that manner, and now we are being charged an average of N45.5 million monthly.
While we were complaining about these outrageous bills through official letters and sending our representatives to their headquarters in Marina, requesting dialogue to reconcile the issue, they sent us N52 million bills for April alone.
And now, they’ve sent us a notice threatening to disconnect us by Monday, April 28th, if we fail to pay a sum of about N62.45 million, from a total of N89.4 million, which they claim we owe.
This development is surprising because we just paid them today (Friday, April 25th), over N34 million out of the outrageous bills they gave us.
“So, where do they expect us to get the whole money from?”
The EKEDC’s disconnection notice, addressed to the DG of NIMR and signed by its Ijora District Business Manager, Mr. Sanyolu Clement, a copy of which was obtained by Sunday Tribune, read in part: “Be informed that your total bill is ₦89,351,449.38, out of which ₦56,447,261 represents your current charge.
“The least we are expecting is payment of the current charge plus the agreed installment amount (N6 million), totaling ₦62,447,261.
