Consumers decry power outages, exorbitant bills

Electricity has almost become an inevitable basic need in the modern world. Almost everything else is pegged to this service, one way or the other.

Surprisingly though, many subscribers in big cities like Bamenda and Yaounde are becoming very worried with the exorbitant bills they have to pay for electricity not really consumed – given the frequent power outages that these towns experience.

For three months now, some Bamenda and Yaounde residents have been complaining about constant and unfair electricity bills served them by the Energy of Cameroon (ENEO) that took over from AES-Sonel.

Despite the numerous complaints filed against this, the authorities have failed to keep to their promises, as consumers end up either paying for the greed or inefficiency of NEO staff.

While some of the affected consumers have been complaining, others see no need doing so, out of frustration as they argue that, from experience, ENEO care less about the services rendered to people from who they make huge undeserved profits.

“I was overcharged with a bill of FCFA 125, 000. When I took the problem to the Regional Office here in Yaounde, the authorities asked me to write a complaint indicating my telephone number, so that their workers could trace my house and rectify the problem.

I did as they requested several times. But no one came to my aid till date. I finally paid the bill in three instalments. But my question is; whose bill did I pay and where did the money go to?” asked one Joseph Fantcho who spoke to The Post in Yaounde.

But, Emelda Iyille, a cashier at the ENEO Regional Office in Yaounde, claimed that if one is overbilled, or is given a mistaken electricity bill, it would be rectified and corrected, once a consumer files a complaint.

One Mfoula, a trader at the Mokolo Market bitterly disagreed with this assertion, arguing that, at one point, he was over-charged with a bill of FCFA 200,000 and, after complaining to the authorities, nothing was done. He said, without going into resolving his problem, he was simply told to pay in three instalments.

“To date, I don’t have electricity in my house because I don’t understand how three bulbs can lead to a consumption of FCFA 200,000 a month, when my children were even on holidays during that period,” he lamented.

The same problem has been going on in the Northwest Region for a long time now. A victim, Judith Assa, based in Bamenda, told The Post that she was served an electricity bill of FCFA 200,000 on April 22, 2014, and the only way her problem could be resolved was to pay the bills in three instalments as compelled by the ENEO Regional Office in Bamenda.

“At times, people consume electricity unknowingly and when they are charged at the end of the month, they would not understand how the bill came about. For example; at night you might put off your television set but forget to completely disconnect it from the switch. Consumption will continue. When you sleep with electricity, use electric pots, irons and fridges, what do you expect at the end of the month?” Jean Stephane, the Head of Agency for ENEO in Yaounde in a chat with The Post averred.