RESIDENTS of Awada in Idemili north local government area, under the aegis of electricity consumers forum, Awada chapter, have protested what they described as estimated billing by the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN.

The placard carrying protesters who marched in a peaceful protest through major streets in the area, complained that PHCN had for over two years billed them on estimation without visiting their individual residences to read their meters.

Addressing newsmen after the peaceful protest, spokesman and one of the coordinators of the group, Chief Ferdinand C. Uzor, said they were forced to embark on the protest because PHCN had been extorting money from Awada residents through crazy bills without actually reading their meters.

Uzzor noted that that all efforts to make the power company redress the anomaly fell on deaf ears, adding: "In the last two years, we have been billed between N6,000 and N100,000 monthly for a 3-bedroom flat. We had written to them to correct the anomally but they refused to hearken to our request. We appeal to them to correct it immediately before things get out hand."

The worrisome aspect, he said, was that PHCN had refused to give them prepaid meters even when majority of them had paid for them.

He said the power company told them that they could not be issued with prepaid meters on grounds that if they were issued prepaid meters, the company would not meet its expected target.