Delta residents lament BEDC’s extortion, decry difficulty in recharging pre-paid metres
By MARTINS OGBEBE, Asaba –
Customers with Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) in Asaba, the Delta State capital have lamented continue extortion by the BEDC, decrying the difficulty in recharging their pre-paid metres.
They said the situation has thrown the area into darkness for weeks, lamenting the frustration passing through for generating 40 digit code to enable them recharge their pre-paid meters.
One of the customers simply identified as Mark Osakwe on Wednesday, said he was unable to load the card he bought some days.
He said, “I bought the first electricity token, and unable to load the card, I bought the second one, thinking the lady from where I bought the card may have made mistake.
“When it was impossible for me to load the second card, I immediately placed a call to senior officials of BEDC, both at Benin and Asaba.
“I felt they could give me information of what was wrong, and proffer solution to the issue but all efforts were fruitless.
“It lingered for days, after which, I was given the #006# number to enter into the metre, to enable the metre display the needed digits, so that them (BEDC) can generate the 40 digit code, that will help the customer to recharge the metre but yet”
Another customer simply identified as Mrs Okolie said she visited Ezenei office in Asaba but was not attended to after she bought N10,00 card.
“I went to their office to sort out the issue of loading my card, I met multitude of people who were still in darkness, stranded, and patiently waiting to be attended to.
“I went to the Anwai road office, they referred me back to Ezenei office. A BEDC staff at the head office asked me to ensure i take photograph of the metre, so they could see the numbers the metre was displaying but not possible, because there was no light.l”
Other customers were seen loitering around BEDC’s offices and got frustrated for unable to get the expected 40digit code, to enable them recharge their metres
When our correspondent visited Ezenei office to ascertain the situation, officials of the company who did not want their names mentioned, said the company is making efforts to resolve the difficulty in loading pre-paid metres..