{"id":117446,"date":"2025-04-15T19:33:06","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T18:33:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=117446"},"modified":"2025-04-15T19:33:06","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T18:33:06","slug":"consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Consumers Demand Probe into Eko Disco&#8217;s N29m Electricity Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Daniel Adaji<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Consumers and advocacy groups have called for an immediate investigation into Eko Electricity Distribution Company (Eko Disco) following the revelation that Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, received N29m electricity bill for April\u2014nearly 1,000 per cent higher than his March bill of N2.7m.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The Executive Director of the Electricity Consumer Protection Advocacy Centre, Chief Princewill Okorie, said the development highlights a systemic failure across Nigeria\u2019s electricity sector.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cIf a deputy governor can be treated with such disregard, what hope is there for ordinary, vulnerable members of the community?\u201d he asked in an interview with Pointblank News.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cThis incident could be a positive turning point if it compels the state to investigate how these companies operate. The consumer protection agency is failing. Government oversight is weak. DisCos are breaking the law. And the people must demand better,\u201d Okorie added.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Hamzat had disclosed the inflated billing at a Monday roundtable with the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) in Lagos. \u201cLast month, the bill was N2.7m. This month, Eko DisCo sent us a bill of N29m,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s crazy.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Despite having purchased a prepaid meter, Hamzat expressed frustration at the delay in converting from estimated to metered billing. \u201cI actually procured a meter but to convert it is wahala,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The revelation has triggered a wave of public backlash, both offline and on social media, with Nigerians sharing similar grievances under a trending topic on X (formerly Twitter).<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cThe deputy governor is absolutely right,\u201d @dannyolu posted. \u201cI used to get estimated bills between 50k and 70k until I got my prepaid meter. Now I don\u2019t spend more than 7k. Electricity distribution companies are criminals.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Others echoed the sentiment, criticizing the inefficiency and opacity in the billing system. \u201cEstimated billing is wrong and outrageous,\u201d said @Ismailaliadi. \u201cI\u2019d rather go solar than continue with that rubbish.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Some, like @jiduwah, urged caution and transparency.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cHow do we know the energy consumption details in the Deputy Governor\u2019s home? We need facts, not assumptions. State governments must enforce metering.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) recently fined eight distribution companies, including Eko Disco, N628m for overbilling unmetered customers between July and September 2024. The commission mandated credit adjustments to affected customers by May 15, 2025.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Senator Ajibola Bashiru, APC\u2019s National Secretary, weighed in, noting that electricity is costly worldwide.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cWe are not a socialist economy. While I understand the deputy governor\u2019s frustration, we must also be realistic about energy costs,\u201d he said on Channels TV.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>But Hamzat maintained that the issue goes beyond his personal experience. \u201cOur people are suffering because of estimated billing,\u201d he said, citing the case of a Surulere resident billed N2.8m despite paying just N2m in yearly rent. \u201cHow can electricity cost more than rent?\u201d<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Daniel Adaji Consumers and advocacy groups have called for an immediate investigation into Eko Electricity Distribution Company (Eko Disco) following the revelation that Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat,&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":117447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Consumers Demand Probe into Eko Disco&#039;s N29m Electricity Bill - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Consumers Demand Probe into Eko Disco&#039;s N29m Electricity Bill - Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Daniel Adaji Consumers and advocacy groups have called for an immediate investigation into Eko Electricity Distribution Company (Eko Disco) following the revelation that Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat,&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-15T18:33:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/images-41.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"284\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"177\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"headline\":\"Consumers Demand Probe into Eko Disco&#8217;s N29m Electricity Bill\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-15T18:33:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/\"},\"wordCount\":477,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/images-41.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/\",\"name\":\"Consumers Demand Probe into Eko Disco's N29m Electricity Bill - Pointblank News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/images-41.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-15T18:33:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/images-41.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/images-41.jpg\",\"width\":284,\"height\":177},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Consumers Demand Probe into Eko Disco&#8217;s N29m Electricity Bill\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/\",\"name\":\"Pointblank News\",\"description\":\"Just the news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\",\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Our Reporter\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Consumers Demand Probe into Eko Disco's N29m Electricity Bill - Pointblank News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Consumers Demand Probe into Eko Disco's N29m Electricity Bill - Pointblank News","og_description":"Daniel Adaji Consumers and advocacy groups have called for an immediate investigation into Eko Electricity Distribution Company (Eko Disco) following the revelation that Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat,&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/","og_site_name":"Pointblank News","article_published_time":"2025-04-15T18:33:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":284,"height":177,"url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/images-41.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Our Reporter","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Our Reporter","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/"},"author":{"name":"Our Reporter","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c"},"headline":"Consumers Demand Probe into Eko Disco&#8217;s N29m Electricity Bill","datePublished":"2025-04-15T18:33:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/"},"wordCount":477,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/images-41.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/","name":"Consumers Demand Probe into Eko Disco's N29m Electricity Bill - Pointblank News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/images-41.jpg","datePublished":"2025-04-15T18:33:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/images-41.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/images-41.jpg","width":284,"height":177},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/consumers-demand-probe-into-eko-discos-n29m-electricity-bill\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Consumers Demand Probe into Eko Disco&#8217;s N29m Electricity Bill"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/","name":"Pointblank News","description":"Just the news","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c","name":"Our Reporter","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Our Reporter"},"url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117446"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117448,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117446\/revisions\/117448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}