An industrialist and Managing Director, Bereans Ventures, Mr. Yomi Liopo, has asked the Minister of Power, Mr. Adebayo Adelabu, to intervene in the indiscriminate disconnection of electricity supply from his outfit by Ikeja Electricity Plc.

Liopo said the development has almost ruined his business and about to send most of his staff to the labour market.

“Some officials of Ikeja Electricity Plc now take pleasure in disconnecting power from my company without taking into cognisance the implications on the business. This is despite the fact that I had written two petitions to the electricity outfit and it has appropriately replied that an arrangement would be put in place to resolve the issue.”

The two petitions, entitled: ‘Re: Disconnection of Electricity: Tantalizers Palmgrove Metre and Re-request for Metre rectification’, which were addressed to the customer care unit of Ikeja Electricity Plc, reads: “Dear IE, I complained about the embarrassing jump of my electricity bill to your customer care and a service request 4736948 was generated. It’s important to state that we have scaled down our activities since July 2023. We changed our energy consuming lighting to LED lights, our oven to gas and we sensitised the staff on being intentional about usage of electricity.

“As a business owner, I was still not satisfied when our electricity bills for June, July, August and September, 2023 were oscillating between N240,000 and 270,000. It was therefore scandalous when I was given N483,000 in October, 2023.

“That was why I reached out to your customer service and the service request above was generated. Besides, I was advised by one of your customer service attendants to at least pay what I paid in previous months of September, 2023 as they investigated my claim.

“To my embarrassment, your disconnection team from Shomolu disconnected the electricity supply the following day. I approached your Shomolu business unit and met with your UTM, who promised to look into my case. He advised I pay the balance of the bill and an additional N15,000 for reconnection. I did.

“I received the November bill, it was N491,000. I was disoriented and confused. I pursued this case further by mailing your customer service about the ill treatment and I was advised to make a request for metre recertification. I did promptly and one Mr. Arinze came for the inspection but there was no electricity supply to complete the job. We were on this when your disconnection team came the following day to disconnect us again.”

Liopo said the development was an attempt to destroy a business that he acquired as his retirement fall-back.

Liopo, however, appealed to the minister to intervene about his ordeal.

In separate responses to the petition, which was signed by one Akpan, Customer Care Team Commercial, Ikeja Plc and Faith of the same unit, the power company acknowledged receipt of Liopo’s mail in which it also apologized for the inconvenience caused.

It said: “Please be informed that you will be contacted by our representatives for the recertification of your metre.”

But Liopo said nothing concrete has been done since then.