Sopuruchi Onwuka

Officials of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) on Thursday swiftly sealed the head office of the Ikeja Electric Distribution Company (IKEDC), also called Ikeja Electric which operates the networks in the inland Lagos State and parts of Ogun State.

The move followed what the agents of the commission termed outright impunity and exploitation of consumers by the power distribution company which has growing reputation for regular disputes with its customers.

Ikeja Electric is a member of the Sahara Group which is also in battle with banks over alleged loan defaults and consequent moves by representatives of the consortium of lenders to take receivership of the group’s commercial portfolios.

The National Assembly has also pledged to deal decisively with the Sahara Energy, another member of the group, over the company’s evasion of statutory payment to the Nigerian Content Development Fund as required by the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act 2010.

While the group continues to troubleshoot its worsening reputation with regulators and bankers at the corporate level, the FCCPC on Thursday sealed the Alausa headquarters of Ikeja Electric over alleged violation of consumer rights.

Director of Surveillance and Investigation at FCCPC, Bola Adeyinka, narrated that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had issued a binding decision directing Ikeja Electric to unbundle a Maximum Demand account into 20 non-Maximum Demand accounts.

The order required the company to recognize 19 residential units and a service point owned by the complainant as separate customer units and to provide the required metering and connection.

“Ikeja Electric did not carry out that decision. Because of this failure, the complainant has been without an electricity supply for more than two and a half years.

“This was despite paying all charges requested by Ikeja Electric and meeting every obligation.

“The lack of electricity has prevented the complainant from putting the 19 residential units to use,” it stated.

The commission said it engaged Ikeja Electric several times, including notifying the company of the outstanding NERC decision.

“No action was taken. On 2nd October 2025, the commission issued a Compliance Notice requiring full compliance within seven business days. The company still did not comply,” the FCCPC stated.

Oracle Intelligence reports that billing dispute remains at the center of poor commercial performance of most electricity distribution companies jointly owned by the federal government and operating partners like the Sahara Group. Poor market returns attributable to billing disputes contribute to the pilling debts in the government’s gas-to-power program.

In the areas covered by Ikeja Electric, only highbrow maximum-demand customers and residential areas are metered; while the vast majority of customers in communities continue to lament bloated monthly estimated bills for flashes of light that intermit weeks and months of darkness.

Ikeja Electric also ranks very low in metering coverage among other distribution companies in the southern part of the country despite several directives by government to resolve all billing issues with mass deployment of meters.

Adeyinka stated that the agency stepped in with enforcement after Ikeja Electric repeatedly sidestepped attempts to resolve the prevailing billing dispute by deploying meters as required by NERC.

“Sealing this facility is a proportionate enforcement measure taken only after repeated engagement and several opportunities for voluntary compliance.

He said “the seal will remain in place until Ikeja Electric complies fully with the directives issued by both NERC and the FCCPC and provides written evidence of that compliance.”

There is also no assurance on when the matter would be over as the company has not made any attempts to inform its customers of the sanctions and how it could impact power supplies.

Officials of Ikeja Electric contacted by our reporters declined comments on the prevailing regulatory action against the company but informal sources withing the company told our correspondent that high level troubleshooting was ongoing to allow the company resume normal operations.