EKEDC Slams N181,000 Back Charge on Customers After Billing Error, Operations Manager Tells Residents to Do Their Worst

An Eko Electricity Distribution Company customer has accused the company of imposing a N181,000 back charge on their prepaid meter after EKEDC billed them for Band B while they were actually on Band A. The company is now demanding payment before the customer can buy more power.

The customer, who shared the experience on social media, said EKEDC provided no explanation for how the figure was calculated. The same back charge was applied to every household in the estate and to many other customers across the company’s network. When the affected residents went to see the operations manager to seek clarity, he told them to get out of his office and do their worst.

“EKEDC just put a 181k bill on my meter saying that I was on band A and they were billing me for band B, so they back charged to recover their lost income,” the customer wrote. “No explanation about how the figure came about. It’s either I pay up or I can’t buy more power. Same for everybody in my estate. Same for a lot of other households. We went to see the operations manager today and he literally told us to gth out of his office and do our worst. This is the country we live in now.”

Under Nigeria’s service-based tariff system, Band A customers are supposed to receive a minimum of 20 hours of electricity daily and pay the highest rate. Band B customers are entitled to a minimum of 16 hours and pay a lower rate. The difference between the two rates is substantial. EKEDC has been accused repeatedly of migrating customers from lower bands to Band A without notice or consultation. In August 2026, residents of Otumara in Lagos accused the company of moving them from Band B to Band A without notification, resulting in excessive bills. In the same month, residents of Ilasamaja rejected the migration of the Ilasamaja 11KV feeder from Band B to Band A. In January 2026, residents of another Lagos community condemned the reclassification of consumers from Band C to Band A without prior consultation.

Back-billing is the practice of charging customers for electricity they were not billed for in previous periods. Under the Lagos State Retail Electricity Supply Code, electricity distribution companies cannot recover charges older than 12 months except in cases involving meter tampering, illegal electricity use or obstruction of meter reading. The NERC Order on Structured Replacement of Faulty and Obsolete End-Use Customer Meters states that the only time a DisCo can bill a customer for lost revenue is if it proves the customer tampered with, bypassed or otherwise interfered with the meter. If the meter failed on its own, the customer is not liable for lost revenue. In this case, the customer was not accused of tampering. They were billed on the wrong band. EKEDC’s error, not the customer’s action, created the so-called lost income. Yet the company is demanding that the customer pay for its mistake before they can buy more power.

EKEDC just put a 181k bill on my meter saying that I was on band A and they were billing me for band B, so they back charged to recover their “lost income”.

No explanation about how the figure came about. It’s either I pay up or I can’t buy more power.

Same for everybody in… https://t.co/rAdikFRHkw

— Ette Okon👴🏾 (@ThinktwiceDark1) October 12, 2026

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EKEDC has a long history of billing disputes. In March 2026, the company was accused of billing Lagos tenants N720,540 for two months of darkness. In May 2026, a Lagos resident was hit with a N2,055,201.77 estimated billing on her prepaid meter. In 2024, NERC fined EKEDC N1.41 billion for overbilling customers. In 2025, the company was among eight DisCos fined a combined N628 million for violating the estimated billing cap for unmetered customers.

An engineer of the EKEDC Agbara District once confessed to a writer that the company treats consumer complaints as mere noise and when customers are tired of making the noise, they will keep quiet. The operations manager’s response to the residents who sought clarity appears to confirm that approach. The company imposes arbitrary charges. When customers complain, they are dismissed. When they persist, they are told to go to court. Most cannot afford to. And the company continues to collect.

Customers facing similar back charges can demand a written explanation of how the figure was calculated. They can request their feeder performance data for the period in question to verify whether the band classification was correct. They can report the matter to the Lagos State Electricity Regulatory Commission, which has stated that distribution companies cannot recover charges older than 12 months except in cases of tampering or illegal use. They can also report to the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, which has been critical of DisCos’ billing practices.

EKEDC has not responded to requests for comment on this specific incident. For the residents of the estate and the many other households affected, the choice is simple. Pay the N181,000 or sit in darkness. And EKEDC knows that in the end, they will pay.

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