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Tag: BEDC

  • BEDC boosts power supply with 1,694 transformers

    Benin Electricity Distribution PLC (BEDC) says it has added a total of 1,694 distribution transformers respectively to ensure power supply improvement in Edo State since the new management take over in 2013.

    The company which disclosed this in a Customer Information Update on Edo State, added that power availability has also improved from two hours in 2013 to between six and 10 hours in some locations within Edo state with severe infrastructure limitations, including Okada, Oluku, part of Sokponba, Evbuotubu, Oliha and Siluko.

    BEDC equally asserted that improved power was also recorded from 8hours to between 12-15hours for locations with more improved infrastructure such as Auchi, Government Reserved Areas (GRA), Ugbowo, Okhoro and new Benin in Benin City.

    According to the update: “Some of these improvements can be seen in large companies, hotels, teaching hospital, central hospital, universities, government establishments including Government House, High Court and State House of Assembly.”

    The company said further that “most importantly several customers can now predict when they will have power supply based on our regimented load management schedule which are published.”

  • BEDC inaugurates 1,694 transformers

    Benin Electricity Distribution Plc (BEDC) has inaugurated 1,694 distribution transformers to boost power supply in Edo State.

    The company disclosed this in a Customer Information Update on Edo State.

    It said power availability has improved from two hours in 2013 to between six and 10 hours in some locations in the state with severe infrastructure limitations, including Okada, Oluku, and part of Sokponba, Evbuotubu, Oliha and Siluko.

    BEDC stated that improved power was also recorded from eight hours to between 12 and 15 hours for locations with more improved infrastructure, such as Auchi, Government Reserved Areas (GRA), Ugbowo, Okhoro and new Benin in Benin City.

    The firm said: “Some of these improvements can be seen in large companies, hotels, teaching hospital, central hospital, universities, government establishments, including Government House, High court and state House of Assembly.”

    The company said: “Most importantly several customers can now predict when they will have power supply based on our regimented load management schedule which are published.”

    On power supply to communities, BEDC disclosed that it has connected 12 communities, which were without power supply before the take-over, including Aduhanhan, Orhua, Evbuehkhae, Evbuovbuke, Ogbekpen, Ekuobore and Ikhueniro.

    The Distribution Company (DisCo) also said transformers of 16 communities were replaced, while 11 transformers donated to others.

    On the Ossiomo power project, BEDC said: “To the extent permitted by applicable legal and regulatory framework, BEDC has been and continues to be willing to work with all such thrid parties, including Ossiomo Power and Infrastructure Company to increase power supply within the ambit of the law, without compromising quality of power supply, affordability and safety of our customers.”

    It stated that it has achieved over 65per cent metering of customers and was committed to closing the gap in its coverage areas and also committed to ensuring credible billing for power consumed.

    “NERC has introduced a new process of using third parties as Meter Asset Provider (MAP) to accelerate the metering process. This should help substantially to eliminate the gap in due course. Estimated billing will continue to subsist in locations where 100 per cent metering is not yet achieved as a means of computing bill for electricity consumed,’’ it added.

  • BEDC hails Edo community for vandals’ arrest

    The management of Benin Electricity Distribution Plc (BEDC) has praised Ovbiogie Community in Ekiadolor area of Benin, Edo State for apprehending electricity vandals.

    Chief State Head, Edo State, Fidelis Obishai, made commendation at the appreciation ceremony hosted by BEDC in Benin. He stressed that vandalism and other forms of electric equipment thefts were serious threats to the country’s sustainability and economic growth.

    He said vandalism impacts negatively on revenue, as funds that should be used for electrical infrastructure projects are being used to repair damaged installations and also stolen equipment.

    The vigilante of Ovbiogie community assisted BEDC in apprehending vandals who vandalised two transformers in the community.

    He said the fight against electricity vandals “is a collective responsibility that can only be sustained through increased partnership. Obishai, who spoke on behalf of the Managing Director, Mrs. Funke Osibodu, noted that increasing vandalism would force the company to spend money meant to improve electricity infrastructure on repair or to replace damaged and stolen installations.

    “If a pole is damaged, wires are carted away and transformers are vandalised, the community remains in darkness. It behoves on all of us to ensure that these equipment are protected for our common good”, he said.

    Obishai pointed out that electricity generated in the country was not sufficient to give 24 hours power supply to all customers thereby causing load-shedding to enable equitable distribution of power so as to satisfy supply needs of all classes of customers, adding that “BEDC is only allocated nine per cent of what is generated from the national grid daily, still some communities were deprived of their share because of those who vandalise transformers and other installations.

    Obishai presented cartons of energy-saving bulbs to the community, saying they would help them pay less for power use.

    He enjoined other communities to emulate Ovbogie and take ownership of BEDC assets in their various localities “since they are the direct users of these facilities”.

  • BEDC, Edo Poly partner on careers

    Benin Electricity Distribution Plc. (BEDC) has begun a long- term partnership with Edo State Polytechnic, Usen to bridge unemployment gap in the country and ensure that youths are employable.

    The firm announced the deal  during a career fair it organised at the polytechnic.

    BEDC’s Chief Corporate Service Officer (CCSO), Mrs. Kunbi Labiyi, said the firm had evolved a Technical Trainee Programme (TTP) that would ensure that youthswere trained by  experienced hands.

    “Employment of our youths is a major concern to all and sundry.  It is important we catch them young so that we can have a proper succession plan in place.

    “The knowledge from old experienced hands in the power sector can be passed to the young, energetic and vibrant youths coming up,” she said.

    Mrs. Labiyi said the company’s mandate is to recruit, train and employ over 2,000 National Diploma (ND) graduates of Electrical/Electronic and Mechanical Engineering in the polytechnics as technicians that will go on to obtain Higher National Diploma (HND) and eventually move up the career ladder working with BEDC.

    “The beginning is to have a list of qualified students that we can immediately put through our recruitment procedure,” she said.

    The CCSO said the TTP was mirrored after the Graduate Trainee Programme (GTP) and is for a year training. It focuses on core technical courses, which two months of classroom training on core technical, commercial, financial, IT skills, customer relationship and on-the-job training.

    She said the objective of the  programme was to produce workers, who would be change agents to lead the revolution expected in the power sector.

    In his goodwill message, Edo State Polytechnic Rector, Prof Biodun Falodun, said the synergy was a major milestone in the history of the institution.

    “We want to explore sustainable partnerships with the national and multinational companies and training students to not only be employable after graduation but also self-sustaining,” he said.

    The BEDC has trained over 700 graduate trainees and technicians in three sets of its GTP scheme and two years of TTP.

     

  • ‘BEDC gets only 325Mw’

    The Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) says it needs 1400Mw to guarantee steady power supply for its 13 million customers.

    Its spokesperson, Tayo Adekunle, disclosed this in a media chat with reporters yesterday in Benin.

    He said only 325.34Mw has been supplied to the company to distribute to the customers in its area of coverage. This comprises 750,000 households and 13 million people in Edo, Delta, Ekiti and Ondo states.

    Adekunle said BEDC had embarked on network expansion and provided or repaired faulty transformers ranging from 300KVA to 2.5KVA, in a bid to improve power supply.

    He said: “As I speak with you, we only get nine per cent of what is generated as power from the generating company. As at Monday July 2, the BEDC got only 325.34Mw from the 3614Mw generated by GENCO.

    “This is a far cry from the total of 1400Mw needed to service our clients in the four states of Ondo, Ekiti, Edo and Delta states that we cover.”

    “BEDC is only a retailer of electricity and not a generating outfit, and as such could only distribute what they get in form of power.

    “BEDC is not isolated from the limitations within the industry, and we have been trying our best to provide safe and reliable electricity to our customers,” he said.

    Adekunle said the company introduced a load shedding system of three hours on and three hours off to satisfy its customers.

    On the issue of metering, he said BEDC had achieved 65.30 per cent progress in its area of coverage, leaving a metering gap of 34.7 per cent.

     

  • Man arraigned for stealing N330,000 copper

    A 23-year old man identified as Umaru Mohammed has been arraigned before an Oredo Magistrate Court for copper wires worth N330, 000 after vandalising a transformer belonging to the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC).

    Umaru was said to have committed the offense on June 29, 2018, around Ogbe-Ibuya quarters in Bénin City.

    He however pleaded not guilty to the two count charges preferred against him.

    Police Prosecutor, Inspector David Akigbe, informed the court that the offence are punishable under section 516 and section 390(9) of the Criminal Code Cap Vol. II of the defunct Bendel State laws as applicable in Edo.

    Read Also: Man bags five months imprisonment for stealing motorcycle

    Counsel to the accused, Mr P. A. Ugheoke, applied for bail and for a proof of the evidence to be made available at the next adjourn date.

    Presiding Magistrate V. E. Oyekpen led granted the accused bail to the sum of N50, 000 with a surety in like sum.

    She subsequently adjourned the case to July 31 for hearing.

  • BEDC cable vandal bags two-year jail

    Efforts by Benin Electricity Distribution Plc (BEDC) at curbing vandalism on its network have again received a boost with the sentencing of a suspected vandal, Abdullahi Abubakar, to two years imprisonment by an Ondo Chief Magistrates’ Court.

    The convict and two others – Abdullahi Nahalla and Mohammed Umoru – were arraigned before the court for vandalising an XLPE cable last October at 33/415 substation Awoyaya community, Oke-Oka, in Ondo town.

    The Chief Magistrate, Damilola Sekoni, sentenced Abubakar to two years imprisonment with effect from the first date of arraignment (October 30, last year) while the two other accused, who pleaded not guilty, are awaiting judgment.

    Their case was adjourned till June 22 for further hearing.

  • Ekiti landlords protest BEDC’s ‘crazy bills’

    Commercial activities at the Ado-Ekiti business office of Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) were paralysed for about two hours yesterday as electricity consumers protested what they called the company’s “crazy bills”.

    Acting under the aegis of Ado Ekiti Landlords and Ladies Electricity Consumers Association of Nigeria (ALLECA), the protesters took over Ado-Ikere Road, accusing the distribution company (DISCO) of ripping them off.

    The placard-carrying protesters, who were from various parts of the state capital, expressed anger that BEDC officials were allegedly demanding N40,000 before giving them prepaid meters.

    They also accused BEDC officials of “mercilessly extorting” them under various guises.

    Some of them wondered why electricity bills were brought to houses that had long been disconnected and places that had been experiencing blackouts for months.

    Led by ALLECA Chairman, Dr. Ibukun Ogundipe, the placard-carrying protesters marched from Okeyinmi Roundabout before berthing at BEDC office in Ajilosun.

    Some of their placards read: “BEDC, Supply Prepaid Meters”; “No To Crazy Bills”; “No To Epileptic Power Supply”; “BEDC, Your Cunning Acts Must Stop”; “No To Candlelight Power Outage”; “Stop Extorting Us, BEDC Staff are Thieves”; “Our Rights Are Prepaid Meters, Give Us Now” and “Chop and Die BEDC, which account is N15,000 Bill per Month Going,” among others.

    The protest was supervised by officers of the Nigeria Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and Department of State Services (DSS) to prevent it from being hijacked by hoodlums.

    Addressing the rally, Ogundipe said it was wrong for BEDC to = give between N13,000 and N18,000 bills to a three-bedroom bungalow when power supply lasted for about two or three hours daily.

    He added: “Pursuant to the inability of BEDC to meet our first demand, we shall henceforth start paying N3,000 per month as our legitimate bill without any regard to whatever figure or amount posted on our bills.

    “Our lawyers have been briefed to take appropriate legal action to challenge these unmitigated pains on every electricity consumer in Ekiti, Ado-Ekiti in particular.”

    Ogundipe said the BEDC management had indicated interest in dialogue with the group, saying: “Legal action will be deployed if dialogue fails.

    “Anywhere across the world, prepaid meters remain the best way to measure the actual amount of megawatts consumed and Ekiti case can’t be different.”

    BEDC spokesman Kayode Brown said the company generates 9,500 megawatts (MW) of electricity for Ekiti with daily electricity supply of between eight and 12 hours.

    This, he said, pushed the tariffs upward.

    Brown said: “The protest is a legitimate right, but payment of N3,000 monthly electricity bill doesn’t correspond with what we offer.

    “This is the amount we were charging when the megawatts supply to Ekiti was 4,500, but it has doubled now.”

    Dismissing the allegation that the company was requesting for money before supplying consumers prepaid meters, Brown said: “Some of these consumers are owing as much as N100,000.

    “We asked them to pay certain percentage before applying, but they refused. How do we get money to buy when they are not ready to pay?

    “We have over 100,000 consumers in Ekiti and they can’t get the meters at the same time. We are pleading with them to see reason with us.

    “This company is a responsible one. We can’t cheat our customers. We have got their demands. The management will seek audience with them and resolve the matter amicably.”

  • BEDC pledges improved service delivery

    BEDC pledges improved service delivery

    The management of the Benin Electricity Distribution Plc (BEDC) has promised improved service delivery to its customers in Edo, Delta, Ondo and Ekiti states.

    It made the pledge at the graduation of the third set of BEDC graduate-trainees and second set of technician trainees, held in Benin City.

    The company’s Managing Director/CEO, Funke Osibodu, said the company was committed to rendering better services.

    She said the training of employees was aimed at boosting their performance.

    Describing the graduates as future leaders, she said: “We have, so far, engaged over 700 graduates and technicians and we intend to engage about 1000 in the first phase. We give them intensive two months classroom training and after that 10 months of practical field training on the understanding of the electricity business. We are grooming them to sustain the good things we are doing. The whole purpose is about the customers, how to serve them better. There are many areas to work on but we are improving and as we grow, we will bring more trainees”

    Edo State House of Assembly Speaker, Hon Kabiru Adjoto, represented at the occasion by the House Committee Chairman on Energy and Water Resources, Hon. Chris Okaeben, commended the  BEDC for its job creation. He advised the trainees to see themselves as being privileged to be employed, stressing that they should ensure that they hold high service standards in doing their jobs without compromise.

    He said a bill was under review on power theft because of incessant theft of power and the concern for the safety of Edo citizens as well as the need to ensure that more power was available to the people of state.

    Elizade University Vice Chancellor, Professor Theophilus Fadayomi, said the university was ready to train manpower for distribution companies (DisCos) across the country. He said the institution has entered into a partnership with BEDC because it shared the vision of the company to develop manpower.

     

  • Delta community, BEDC bicker over alleged N4.16m debt

    Delta community, BEDC bicker over alleged N4.16m debt

    THE Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) has cut electricity supply to Ugbolu community, Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State over an alleged debt of N4.16 million.

    The Nation gathered that the community has been in darkness in the last six months thereby crippling commercial activities. A community leader, Ogbueshi Christopher Okonkwo, alleged that the authorities of BEDC supplied power between April and August 2016 and were served with a power consumption bill of N4.16million.

    He lamented that commercial activities in the agrarian community has been impacted negatively, adding that “except we get help from higher authorities, Ugbolu community may remain in perpetual darkness for a very long time.” He urged the lawmaker representing the constituency in the State Assembly to come to the rescue of the constituents.