By Ifeanyi E. Ihegwuruike :
Residents of Aba, the commercial hub of Abia State, have lamented that the incessant tariff hike on electricity by Aba Power Limited Electric (APLE), owners of Aba Ring Fence will soon dislocate a lot of residents into other towns.
The residents told Anambra Times that currently, they now go to markets and workshops just to make money to pay electricity bills, as people in the lowest band (E) are forced to pay as huge as ₦35,000 per month, while many residents in bigger bands pay as much as ₦108, 000 to ₦130,000 per month.
Anambra Times also gathered that on Wednesday 19th March 2025 at High Court Okpuala Ngwa (Inside Isiala Ngwa North LGA headquarters), the court will hear the case between the company, Aba Electricity Consumers Forum and Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) over the tariff hike.
However, Sylvanus Ogbuehi, an Aba based small scale manufacturer, said, “I don’t understand what’s happening in Aba. Who is Alex Otti rebuilding Aba for? How can an ordinary Artisan survive in Aba?
“How can the engine house of Aba’s economy, which is the teeming population of hardworking creative youths survive this city, when their electricity bills are higher than their house rents and shop rents?
“What about those of us in small manufacturing businesses? We’re shutting down in geometric progression. In two years time, all efforts of this government to restore the glory of Aba will be defeated because there could be a few people left here to do business.
“What kind of a city are we rebuilding here? In the next two years, APLE will chase a lot of people out from Aba, because many people without strong income will no longer survive the harsh Aba that’s coming. Every month, they increase the electricity rate as if there’s a clandestine plot to destroy Aba.
“Why is Abia State government silent about what APLE is doing? Is it because they have about %5 investment in Geometric Power, the owners of APLE? Why is the government watching residents suffer in the hands of electricity distribution company we were told have come to serve us better?
“APLE is going to destroy Aba if government fails to open the electricity space in Aba for more companies to come in. Monopoly is the biggest problem here.”
Adding his voice, Mr Cletus Ugwunna, an indigene of Okpuafor, Ovom, Obingwa LGA, said that the whole of his area has been completely cut off, whereas the inhabitants have been paying bills consistently without fail.
“At least I and my immediate neighbours are not owing. Worst part is that no explanation has been given to the entire community of several hundreds of people.
“It’s also important to note that my findings show that the community says they can hold on to their power; that after all, they don’t ever get power supply, but they have been paying.
“Now, when a people are willing to stay without electricity, what happens to job creation and small scale manufacturing over there? It simply means that APLE is gradually destroying the Aba of our dreams.”
Ekene Okorie, described APLE services as an indirect disservice when he said, “Some of us in all honesty, don’t need their ‘disservice’ anymore. I, in particular, have suffered for so long that electricity in my home means nothing, absolutely nothing anymore.
“I’m now living in the stone age in Aba, the great Enyimba city. Shame, I can’t preserve my foods, iron my clothes, can’t pump water and have to fetch in Jerry cans from my office, the heat is excruciating and has made me sleep on the corridor since January.
“I can’t subscribe to my favourite tv service provider (since March 2024 when the lack of electricity escalated), the attendant fear of insecurity and the crippling health and other social implications. What have we done wrong,” Okorie asked.
Mr Jasper Akachukwu decried the terrible situation APLE has placed Aba residents, querying how a city that is recently on the ride will now be demoralized by an electricity company.
“How can someone pay ₦64,000 in a month in a flat under estimate bill how did they arrive on such amount? Whereas in my house we’re I leave in town is under prepaid I recharge at times 20/25k monthly.
“My question how did they arrive on given people 74k, 64k, 54k under estimate,this is total day light robbery. Why are they not sharing prepaid meters? Another funny thing now is that you will load ₦5,000, in less than 1 hour it will finish. What a country. Something need to be done Same thing MTN is doing now with data subscription. Can’t Nigerian citizens have little soft landing in there father land , is so pathetic.”
Another manufacturer, Success Stanley said that what APLE is doing is an uncommon exploitation, as what is happening in Aba does not happen in any other part of Nigeria.
“If we have woken up to reality so be it. We talk of the common man what of the uncommon investors, farmers, artisans and business owners. Go there and see uncommon bills. Ranging from ₦7 million which is what small uncommon place like us paid last month and today they have another little above ₦8 million.
“Uncommon businesses are dying off, staff salaries unpaid. One only work now to pay Geometrics Electricity Bills in a gestapo manner of banditry, extortion and corruption. Yet this company is manned by an Igbo man who promised us 24/7 electricity with easy payment.
“We have Eko district PHCN in lagos, Abuja Electricity compare the Aba bills of today with any of the two, you will see we are paying 10times their rate with little regard to 24/7 electricity. No this is uncommon exploitation.”
