By Ozioruva Aliu

BENIN CITY – COLD room operators in some parts of Benin under the name, Cold Room/Landlord Operators of Upper Lawani Feeder have protested the increment of their electricity tariff by 300 percent as a result of the transfer 1of the light metering system from bandwidth B to A.

A petition to that effect by their lawyer. Olayiwola Afolabi SAN was sent to the governor of Edo State, Speaker of the State House of Assembly and the management of the BEDC Electricity Plc.

The petition said that the “intention to increase the tariff per kilowatt by over 300% which was formerly N68 to N209.50k is both shocking and financially unsustainable for our clients and the State considering the current dire economic situation of the country.

” That this intended increase is bound to either put them in debt or out of business entirely as they cannot afford such an astronomical hike in tariff as for instance, electricity units worth N50,000 which usually powers their cold-rooms for at least 10 days now barely lasts for around three days. This hike is clearly beyond progressive as it has caused a lot more bad than good for our clients, their customers, their family and the state in general.”

They appealed to authorities to set up a task force to review the tariff.

Speaking on behalf of the others, Mrs Gloria Ahanmise and Mrs Ehizogie Aiyevbomwan said they have been there for many years as they argued that their consent ought to be sought before they were transferred to the new bandwidth. They said their businesses have not been doing fine because of the country’s economic realities.

But when contacted, the Public Relations Officer of BEDC Electricity Plc, Mrs Evelyn Gbewen said consumers do. Ot have option of which bandwidth to ne bir it depends on the facilities available in the area.