{"id":162639,"date":"2025-05-15T23:02:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T22:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/electrical-contractors-protest-against-ibedc-over-alleged-exploitation"},"modified":"2025-05-16T00:05:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T23:05:08","slug":"electrical-contractors-protest-against-ibedc-over-alleged-exploitation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/electrical-contractors-protest-against-ibedc-over-alleged-exploitation","title":{"rendered":"Electrical contractors protest against IBEDC over alleged exploitation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Members of the Licensed Electrical Contractors Association of Nigeria, LECAN, Osun State chapter, on Thursday staged a protest against the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company, IBEDC, alleging exploitation and professional misconduct by its staff.<\/p>\n

The protest was held along the Osogbo\/Ibokun Road, with protesters chanting songs and carrying placards bearing messages such as \u201cIBEDC Exploits Customers,\u201d \u201cBand A Is a Fraud,\u201d and \u201cMake Meters Available to All.\u201d<\/p>\n

LECAN members accused IBEDC staff of engaging in practices that undermine the Electricity Act of 2013 and encroach on responsibilities legally assigned to licensed contractors.<\/p>\n

State Chairman of LECAN, Kayode Adebayo, while addressing journalists during the protest, claimed that IBEDC personnel had taken over the role of licensed electrical contractors and were extorting residents.<\/p>\n

Adebayo said, \u201cThe Electricity Act clearly defines the duties of DISCOs, contractors, and consumers, but IBEDC workers have overstepped their bounds and now create barriers for residents to access electricity.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to him, the process of obtaining an electricity meter has become unnecessarily difficult due to the activities of certain IBEDC employees.<\/p>\n

He alleged that customers were being billed arbitrarily, with new accounts often receiving unexplained minimum debits of N100,000 before any actual electricity supply.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese unaccounted charges are then transferred to prepaid meters, making residents pay for services they never received,\u201d Adebayo added.<\/p>\n

The contractors further accused IBEDC of failing to replace faulty meters, instead forcing customers to bear the costs or endure estimated billing.<\/p>\n

Adebayo said that many customers who submitted meter cards for upgrade had not received them back, calling the delay both illegal and exploitative.<\/p>\n

The protestors also challenged the legitimacy of the band classification system, with specific criticism directed at Band A, labelling it a non-functional and fraudulent policy.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the group claimed that customers were made to pay unofficial fees to IBEDC staff in order to have their transformers connected to the national grid.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn some areas, even when transformers are installed, they remain inactive unless certain underhand payments are made,\u201d Adebayo alleged.<\/p>\n

LECAN also demanded an end to what it termed fraudulent practices by IBEDC staff and urged regulatory intervention.<\/p>\n

In response, the Osogbo Regional Communication Officer of IBEDC, Kikelomo Owoeye, denied all allegations made by the contractors.<\/p>\n

Owoeye stated, \u201cCustomers are not billed before connection. Any billing issues arising during construction are resolved through available adjustment procedures.\u201d<\/p>\n

She noted that IBEDC remains committed to metering customers who provide verifiable proof of payment, while also addressing cases of attempted fraud involving meter receipts.<\/p>\n

On the issue of meter card upgrades, she clarified that the programme had been a temporary amnesty initiative with a defined deadline that had already passed.<\/p>\n

Owoeye added that faulty meters are replaced by IBEDC depending on the cause, with manufacturing defects handled by the company and misuse cases requiring customer responsibility.<\/p>\n

She explained that, to avoid disruption in supply during meter replacement, temporary billing is based on the cap approved by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. Members of the Licensed Electrical Contractors Association of Nigeria, LECAN, Osun State chapter, on Thursday staged a protest against the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company, IBEDC, alleging exploitation and professional misconduct by its staff. The protest was held along the Osogbo\/Ibokun Road, with protesters chanting songs and carrying placards bearing messages such as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":162638,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[3658,254,260],"class_list":["post-162639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-ibedc","tag-nigeria","tag-protest"],"yoast_head":"\nElectrical contractors protest against IBEDC over alleged exploitation - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Members of the Licensed Electrical Contractors Association of Nigeria, LECAN, Osun State chapter, on Thursday staged a p ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/electrical-contractors-protest-against-ibedc-over-alleged-exploitation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Electrical contractors protest against IBEDC over alleged exploitation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Members of the Licensed Electrical Contractors Association of Nigeria, LECAN, Osun State chapter, on Thursday staged a p ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/electrical-contractors-protest-against-ibedc-over-alleged-exploitation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-15T22:02:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-15T23:05:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1747337750.149294.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1020\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\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:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/electrical-contractors-protest-against-ibedc-over-alleged-exploitation#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/electrical-contractors-protest-against-ibedc-over-alleged-exploitation\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Electrical contractors protest against IBEDC over alleged exploitation\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-15T22:02:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-15T23:05:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/electrical-contractors-protest-against-ibedc-over-alleged-exploitation\"},\"wordCount\":508,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/electrical-contractors-protest-against-ibedc-over-alleged-exploitation#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1747337750.149294.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"IBEDC\",\"Nigeria\",\"Protest\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/electrical-contractors-protest-against-ibedc-over-alleged-exploitation#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/electrical-contractors-protest-against-ibedc-over-alleged-exploitation\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/electrical-contractors-protest-against-ibedc-over-alleged-exploitation\",\"name\":\"Electrical contractors protest against IBEDC over alleged exploitation - 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