Members of the Licensed Electrical Contractors Association of Nigeria (LECAN), Osun State chapter, took to the streets on Thursday to protest against what they described as exploitation and professional misconduct by the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC).

The demonstration, which took place along Osogbo/Ibokun Road, saw protesters displaying placards with messages such as "IBEDC Exploits Customers," "Band A Is a Fraud," and "Make Meters Available to All" while chanting protest songs.

Kayode Adebayo, the State Chairman of LECAN, told journalists that IBEDC staff had overstepped their boundaries by taking over roles legally assigned to licensed electrical contractors under the Electricity Act of 2013.

"The 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," Adebayo stated.

According to the protesters, obtaining electricity meters has become unnecessarily complicated due to the activities of certain IBEDC employees. They alleged that new customers often receive unexplained minimum debits of N100,000 before any actual electricity supply.

"These unaccounted charges are then transferred to prepaid meters, making residents pay for services they never received," Adebayo added.

The contractors further accused IBEDC of failing to replace faulty meters and instead forcing customers to bear the costs or endure estimated billing. They claimed that many customers who submitted meter cards for upgrade had not received them back, describing the delay as both illegal and exploitative.

The protestors also challenged the legitimacy of the band classification system, particularly Band A, which they labeled as non-functional and fraudulent. Additionally, they alleged that customers were being made to pay unofficial fees to IBEDC staff to have their transformers connected to the national grid.

"In some areas, even when transformers are installed, they remain inactive unless certain underhand payments are made," Adebayo claimed.

In response to these allegations, Kikelomo Owoeye, the Osogbo Regional Communication Officer of IBEDC, denied all claims made by the contractors.

"Customers are not billed before connection. Any billing issues arising during construction are resolved through available adjustment procedures," Owoeye stated.

She emphasized that IBEDC remains committed to metering customers who provide verifiable proof of payment while addressing cases of attempted fraud involving meter receipts.

Regarding meter card upgrades, Owoeye clarified that the program had been a temporary amnesty initiative with a defined deadline that had already passed. She 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.

The IBEDC spokesperson explained that temporary billing based on the cap approved by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) is implemented to avoid disruption in supply during meter replacement.