Electricity Users In Bamenda Decry Exorbitant Bills Despite Months Of Unstable Electricity.

By Raymond Dingana

Electricity subscribers in Bamenda and its environs say, they have been paying exorbitant electricity bills despite going without stable electricity for months. Many have questioned the reasons for such heavy electricity bill saying they never expected such taking into consideration the fact that, since the 20^th day of May 2019, electricity supply in Bamenda and its environs has had nothing good  to write home about.

Mr. Roland is a residence of Nkwen in Bamenda III Sub Division of the North West Region of Cameroon. He told DrayInfos that he expected to see a drop in the electricity bills but that has not been the case: “I actually thought the electricity bills were going to witness a drop because we have gone without stable electricity for months now. I was shocked when my July bill  came 36000FCFA. MY bills have always been within 6000 and 8000FCFA but it came 36000FCFA”.

Linda is another electricity user in Bamenda, hear her: “I live in a big compound, our electricity bills have never gone pass 20.000FCFA, but what we just received as our electricity bill is 70.000FCFA.When the electricity problem started, many of us stopped using our fridges and many others because they were not useful again because of the unstable nature of electricity, yet our bill came the way it came”.

Asked if they had reported the matter to the Eneo office in the region, Derrick, who has also been hit hard by the heavy electricity bill says he went there and was asked to take a snap shot of his metal and bring: “The Eneo office at Cow Street asked me to snap my metal and bring, when that was done, they ask me to just be paying and that, they were going to be adjusting the issue on the other bills but that did not happen. The next month I realized I owed more than 100 units of electricity I couldn’t even say where it was coming from”.

Many have also complained that, they hardly see those who go around reading meters before bills are issued but bills are issued even though meters are not read. DrayInfos went to the Eneo office for an official statement on this but the only person available was one of the workers who opted for anonymity. He says: “We don’t go out to read meters because we have been attacked on several occasions by armed men. Some have been abducted and huge sums paid for them to regain their freedom. Because of all these, we are compelled to estimate some of the bills and give the people”.

While many are decrying the exorbitant electricity bills issued them by the electricity company, they have also been appreciative of the repair works carried out by the National Electricity Transmission Corporation [SONATREL] on the Pylon that carries the 90KV main feeder supply line from Douala to Bamenda through Bafoussam. It was damaged at the Mbatu neighborhood in Bamenda on May 20^th, 2019 and was the main problem behind the irregular electricity supply in the North West Region.

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