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Tag: Enugu Disco

  • Enugu Disco threatens to disconnect CBN, military, state govt offices

    Enugu Disco threatens to disconnect CBN, military, state govt offices

    All the five Southeast government houses risk being disconnected from power supply by the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) over outstanding bills.

    The EEDC also threatened to disconnect offices of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian army, among others, if they fail to settle their bills.

    The Head of corporate communications, Emeka Ezeh, disclosed this yesterday.

    He said the planned disconnection is part of the company’s strategies to recover its money.

    The company, according to reports,  is owed over N180 billion in unpaid electricity bills.

    According to the notice, EEDC advised its debtors to clear the bills on or before June 10, 2024 to avoid disconnection.

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    The notice by the company reads: “The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company PLC (EEDC) wishes to notify its customers with outstanding electricity bills, that effective from 10th June 2024, the company will commence the disconnection of electricity supply to these indebted customers. “If this is not done, it will be difficult for the company to keep up its operations to serve customers and enhance the quality of service.”

    “Some of the indebted customers include; Enugu State government, Ebonyi State government, Anambra State government Abia State government, Imo State government, Innoson Technical & Industries, University of Nigeria (Enugu & Nsukka Campuses) Nigerian Bottling Company Ltd, Nigerian Army, Nigerian Police Force, Nigerian Air Force, Nigerian Navy, Nigeria Railway Corporation, National Drug Law Enforcement, UNTH, Enugu Ebonyi State University, Nigeria Coal Corporation Quarters Federal Secretariat & Establishment, GMO Rubber Division Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka Ebonyi State Govt. (Ecumenical Centre 1) Nigeria Prisons Training School Central Bank of Nigeria offices, Concorde Hotel, Owerri, and Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki.

  • Residents, Enugu Disco square up over 10-month blackout

    Residents of Federal Housing Estate, Ogbor Hill, Aba, Abia State, have blasted the management of Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) over 10 months of power outage experienced in the area.

    A spokesman of the residents, Navy Lt. Faraday Richardson (retd), said for the past 10 months, residents of the area have not had power supply despite repeated assurances given to them by the management of the electricity company.

    Richardson who was visibly angry said in September last year, the electric transformer, which residents contributed money and bought, packed up as a result of the impact of a wind storm.

    He said after waiting in vain for over three months for EEDC to replace the transformer, residents decided to contribute money to purchase another transformer as they were tired of staying in darkness.

    He alleged that they had already contributed over N2m when officials of EEDC in Aba told them to hand over the money to them to enable the company to mount another transformer in the area.

    Read Also: Police parade 33 suspected criminals in Enugu

    The retired military officer said two months after the receipt of the money, EEDC mounted a moribund electric transformer in the area, adding that after about 36 hours, the said transformer blew up.

    “We have been the ones buying electric transformers in the area each time the one we are using gets bad, even the one that packed up last year, we bought it and we had not complained.

    “Why we are pained this time around is that we had already contributed over N2m and made arrangements to purchase a new transformer before the EEDC people told us to give them the money, assuring that they would mount another transformer for us.”

    The worst of it all, according to the retired military officer, is that residents including widows who contributed the money for the electric transformer are accusing officials of the FHE landlords association of conniving with the EEDC personnel to dupe them.

  • Enugu DisCo upgrades injection substations

    Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) has begun plan to upgrade its Agu-Awka injection substation from 7.5MVA capacity to 15MVA, having taken delivery of a brand new 15MVA power transformer, which the company ordered from overseas.

    This is coming less than 24 hours after the upgrade of its Ebeano Tunnel Injection substation from 7.5 MVA to 15MVA.

    The firm’s Head of Communications, Emeka Eze, said the upgrades are meant to match the rapid increase in load demand by customers as well as significantly improve the quality of power supply to the affected areas.

    He said the upgrade of Agu-Awka injection substation lasted three days between April 6 and April 9.

    Ezeh further said that as a result of this development, electricity customers served by the substation were are out of supply during the period of the upgrade.  He mentioned the areas affected as Agu-Awka GRA, UniZik, parts of Nkwele Awka, Amenyi Awka, CBN, Juhel, Millennium Industry and Nodu Okpuno, adding that these capital intensive upgrades embarked on by EEDC are in addition to the ongoing construction of a 1 x 7.5MVA injection substation at ABS, Awka. The project which is near completion is expected to improve electricity supply to Okpuno, Isuaniocha, Mgbakwu, Urum, Amanuke and the university communities.

    EEDC, therefore, sincerely apologised for the inconveniences this caused the customers in Awka. “It is all geared towards improving the quality of service we offer to our customers,” Ezeh said.

    Last year, EEDC delivered major network enhancement projects ranging from deloading of feeders, deployment of relief transformers and replacement of failed transformers. In Enugu State, EEDC completed and commissioned the 1 x 7.5 MVA Nike Lake injection substation at Nike, which greatly improved electricity supply to the entire Nike area and parts of Abakpa..

  • Enugu DISCO to punish vandals

    The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) has said it will prosecute any of its workers indulging in corrupt practices.

    It also said there would be no hiding place for those sabotaging power supply through the vandalisation of its infrastructure.

    This came amid complaints from customers that some officials of the EEDC were asking for money, ranging from N20,000 to N30,000, to install pre-paid meters.

    The allegation and high estimated billing topped complaints at the company’s customers’ forum at the weekend in Enugu.

    EEDC’s Head of Communications Mr. Chukwuemeka Ezeh said the company had launched a whistle-blowing policy against corrupt officials.

    He said: “Our meter is free; the installation is also free. So, anyone demanding money from customers is a fraudster and should be treated as such.”

    The spokesman said the customers’ forum “is part of EEDC’s engagement strategy to reach out to its customers, intimate them of activities of the company, feel their pulse on the quality of service and also address their concerns”.

    Ezeh listed some of the projects EEDC had embarked on to improve the quality of service to customers.

    He said these include “asset registration and customer enumeration, massive metering of its customers, de-loading of feeders, construction of new feeders, deployment of relief transformers, construction and upgrading of injection substations”.

    Ezeh urged EEDC’s customers “to be vigilant and protect the electrical installations within their neighbourhood from vandals”.

    EEDC’s Head of Audit and Compliance Mr. Ade Odunmbaku said the company “looks into corruption very seriously; however, most customers encourage this because they are always in a hurry”.

     

  • Enugu DISCO gets task force on energy theft

    The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) has inaugurated a Special Investigation and Prosecution Taskforce on Electricity Offences (SIPTEO) to punish   individuals and organisations that commit energy theft and meter bypass as well as those involved in vandalism of electrical infrastructure

    The event, which took place at the company’s corporate headquarters in Enugu, was presided over by the Acting Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Paul Okeke.

    Other members of EEDC’s Board of Directors at the event included Dr. Steve Dike; the Technical Adviser to the Board, Mr. Yateesh Kumar; the company’s Transformational Consultant, Mr. Okey Nwosu and head of task force, Miss Chinenye Okafor.

    Okeke advised the team to be professional in the discharge of its duty, saying there is need for high-level integrity and respect for human rights.

    He said the high prevalence of meter bypass and energy theft in the Southeast posed a serious challenge to EEDC.

    According to him, the company has consistently recorded monthly losses in revenue, threatening its performance and sustainability.

    The leader of the 18-man special squad, Spencer Tyozua, a Superintendent of Police (SP), assured EEDC management that his team would be professional in discharging its task.

     

  • Enugu DisCo: 70% prepaid meters bypassed by customers

    The management of Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) has said 70 per cent of its prepaid mters in the South east region of the country has been bypassed by customers.

    In a statement announcing the company’s plans to deploy 200,000 smart meters to its customers across the region, its Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Robert Dickerman lamented that metering customers and energy theft remained major challenges facing most of Distribution Companies (DisCos).

    He said the deployment of the meters is in fulfilment of the firm’s commitment to meter all its customers.

    He said the company has also awarded contracts to three firms-Mojec International Limited, MBH Power and Genus Power Infrastructure Limited, to enable it achieve the target.

    The project is in continuation of its ongoing metering of Maximum Demand (MD) customers, and the Credited Advance Payment for Metering Implementation (CAPMI) designed to enable willing customers within the network obtain meter by paying to EEDC, which also installs the meters for them.

  • Interstate Electrics completes payment for Enugu Disco

    Interstate Electrics completes payment for Enugu Disco

    Interstate Electrics (IE) which won the bid for Enugu Electricity Distribution Plc has completed the payment for the electricity firm.

    The payment is coming some days after it took advantage of the available window of opportunity for the completion of outstanding balance as recently spelt out in the Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) for the acquisition of the enterprise.

    Interstate Electrics which is floated by multi-billionaire businessman, Sir Emeka Offor, had recently assured the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) that the payment processes will be completed before this weekend.

    A source at the BPE who refused to be named said that a total of $94,505,000.00(about N148,372,85,000.00), has been credited into the privatisation agency’s account, thereby enabling the company to prepare for IEs takeover.

    The consortium which is made up of Chrome Consortium Energy Nigeria Limited, Powerhouse International Limited, Metropolitan Electricity Authority, also parades a team of electricity infrastructure engineers, owners/operators of electricity power distribution companies, upstream and downstream oil operators and empowerment partners, has a collective global experience of over 80 years.

    It was incorporated as a vehicle for the purpose of acquiring and operating Electricity Distribution Companies in Nigeria and it emerged as the preferred bidder for the Enugu DISCO after a bidding process for the sale of PHCN in 2012, with an Aggregate Technical, Commercial and Collection (ATC & C) loss reduction proposal of 20.83%.

    The consortium’s technical partner was identified as Metropolitan Electricity Authority of Thailand (MEA) with over 50 years experience. It is responsible for the distribution and sales of electricity to users in Bangkok and metropolitan vicinities, including Nonthaburi and Samutprakarn provinces.

    MEA’s distribution area covers 3,195 square kilometers divided into 14 districts with a population of about eight million and energy sales of 44,714 GWH of electricity.