JEDCO slaps DefyHateNow with a $98,000 bill over illegal power connection
“We will opt that this case be taken ahead to the court of law.” Reec Malual said.
By Winnie Cirino
The Juba Electricity Distribution Company – JEDCO issued Defy Hate Now, a nonprofit with a 98,000-US dollar bill for using its power illegally for the last seven months.
A quarrel ensued between Defy Hate Now and JEDCO last week with several officials of the organization thrown behind bars for hours, including the Executive Director of the organization Juan Marina Modi and Kwaje Nelson, Chair of the board of directors, over what JEDCO alleged illegal power connection. Defy Hate Now says the bill is exorbitant and unfair.
It all started in March this year when Defy Hate Now sought JEDCO to connect the organization to the electricity. JEDCO had sent someone to connect the office to Phase One, a phase where the client uses minimum electrical appliances.
That was the wrong turn. The organization used the power for a short time then started experiencing repeated short circuits, which prompted them to report the issue to JEDCO to be addressed. JEDCO advised Defy Hate Now to upgrade to Phase Three, which enables a client to use power for several electrical appliances without having to experience constant short circuits as opposed to the Phase One. An advice the nonprofit hid to.
According to Reec Malual, the lawyer representing Defy Hate Now changed to phase Three, but barely four months later, the group realized that the meter was not recording the increased amount of units being used.
As a legal officer, Malual advised his client to report the case to JEDCO, which they did and JEDCO sent a team to investigate the cause of the fault.
“The team came and found out that there was a bypass. This is when this whole thing was invited. Instead of knowing there was a good faith, they went ahead and made their assessment and that assessment says that for 5 months, Defy Hate Now will have to pay 95,000 dollars, which is 19,000 dollars per each month.”
“We all know that the Defy Hate Now Office does not have that capacity.” Malual added, saying JEDCO should have first looked at the details of the Phase-One meter previously used to determine how much power the organization used per month.
He says that data would be used to calculate the deficit instead of slapping the organization with an exaggerated amount. After several engagements it turned out that the person who connected the organization to phase 3 does not work for JEDCO anymore.
Malual says that was when, JEDCO called his client Marina Modi on Wednesday, to go and write a police statement on the matter. Instead the police locked her up for nine hours without taking her statement.
“We pressed them but they never wanted to take the statement till the end of the day. We had to do an undertaking.” Malual told The Insider. It’s not clear what undertaking they did but a day later Juan Marina was rearrested alongside her colleague Kwaje Nelson for not turning up to give their statement to police.
JEDCO’s Public Relations manager, Joseph Thomas, acknowledges that the company asked for an arrest warrant for Defy Hate Now because the group did not comply with JEDCO’s decisions. He didn’t specify which decisions.
He says Defy Hate Now did not report until their inspection team discovered the illegal connection through a stolen meter.
“One day they (the inspection team) visited their premises and find out that the meter connected there was a stolen one and that the connection also was a bypass connection and that the meter belongs to somebody.” Thomas revealed.
Defy Hate Now argued that their offices were legally connected by someone who was carrying a JEDCO staff ID. When asked by JEDCO to reveal the identity of this person, the organization could not, citing privacy rights issues. The group also failed to present previous electricity bills.
The organization’s lawyer says they will sue JEDCO if they don’t reach an agreement.
“We will opt that this case be taken ahead to the court of law.” Malual said.
Thomas says JEDCO is ready to defend itself in case Defy Hate Now opt to take the case to court.
Courtesy Photos.
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