The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC)

  • No exclusive monopoly in power distribution – Fashola

    No exclusive monopoly in power distribution – Fashola

    Mr Babatunde Fashola, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, has allayed fears of Electricity Distribution Companies (Discos) over government’s investments in solar energy plants.

    Fasola allayed their fears at the 20th Monthly Power Sector Stakeholders’ Meeting hosted by Enugu Electricity Distribution Company ( EEDC ) in Owerri.

    The minister said that the Discos expressed their fears in a letter to his office about some government’s initiatives on power generation and distribution.

    Fashola said some government’s initiatives which included provision of meters to consumers by meter suppliers, provision of more power to consumers through licensing of eligible customers and promotion of more solar power through mini-grids had prompted the fears of the Discos.

    He said Discos had nothing to fear about solar, stressing that all government’s initiatives were targeted at improving services to the people.

    “It is my understanding that you fear that you will lose some income or some customers if government proceeds and on the question of meters, you seek to have technical compatibility with what the licencee will operate.

    “In respect of possible investment in distribution equipment, you seek that government should route the investment through the Discos.

    “While your concerns about business viability, financial stability and cost recovery are well understood and indeed supported by the Electric Power Sector Perform Act of 2005 ( EPSRA ) which government will respect, I must point out that government’s focus is also strong on the issue of service to the people.

    “As far as the promotion of solar and other sources of independent power are concerned, please note that not only are they supported by the ESPRA, they are consistent with our Paris Climate Change Agreement Obligations and with emerging global practice,” he said.

    The minister said that ESPRA did not contemplate a monopoly for any licensee unless it was expressly stated in the licence.

    Fashola said the monthly meeting was to review the progress made from the last monthly meeting held in Lagos in September and to collectively engage the challenges that lied ahead in the roadmap to incremental, stable and uninterrupted power supply.

    He said that in the last month, the sector recovered 100mw from the damaged Afam IV power plant which had been inoperative since January 2015.

    The minister said that TCN had energised the Jebba-Kainji 2nd 330KV line and the 2nd Ajaokuta-Abuja 330KV line both of which were inoperative since 2015.

    According to him, the Federal Executive Council on Oct. 4 approved the verified sum of N25.9 billion Federal Government MDA debts and its payment by setting it off against debts owed by the Discos to NBET.

    The minister as saying that the sector was also making progress in recovering debts due from international customers.

    He said the sector was equally working to expand the distribution network of the Discos so that they could take additional 2,000 mw of power now available for supply

    Fashola said that debts of ministries, departments and agencies would be paid through their debts to Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Company ( NBET ).

    He said that one of the challenges to overcome was how the Discos could quickly increase their capacity to take power and distribute to consumers.

    The minister commended the critical role of the judiciary and the law enforcement agents on the strict enforcement of arbitration clauses in the power sector.

    “We welcome this judicial support to stop corruption in the power sector, enforce the law and promote liquidity in the sector.

    “We also welcome the intervention in the Court of Appeal in the case involving the tariff review,” he said.

    Mr Paul Okeke, the Acting Managing Director of EEDC, commended the minister for his unrelenting efforts to improve the power sector.

    He said EEDC was also committed to the improvement of power supply in the country.

    Okeke also spoke on some progress made by the company, adding that there were ongoing schemes to improve service delivery in the sector.

    NAN

  • Enugu, EEDC disagree over N2.6bn electricity debt

    Enugu, EEDC disagree over N2.6bn electricity debt

    The Enugu State Government and Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) are embroiled in debt row as each claims that the other is owing it.

    A Director and board member of EEDC, Dr Steven Dike told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Wednesday that the state government owed the company N2.6 billion in unpaid bills.

    Dike said that the debt was an accumulation over the years, the highest any organisation or government agency had ever owed the company in the state.

    He said that all efforts to get the state government to pay the debt had failed.

    The director accused some government officials in the state, including two serving commissioners and some hoteliers of power theft, adding that the debt had worsened the financial state of the company.

    “Two serving commissioners and some hoteliers intentionally by-passed their pre-paid meters and when you do this the masses suffer the consequences,” he said.

    According to him, instead of paying the debt, the government has resorted to unleashing the state assembly on the company.

    “The assembly passed a vote of no confidence on the EEDC because the state government does not want to pay the debt,” he said.

    Dike said what the company needed from the state government was cooperation and not vilification.

    He said that the state had the largest pool of staff in the company.

    “Ezeagu, Udi and Nsukka local government areas of the state have the highest employees in the company. Yet, the state government is fighting the company over debt it owed it,” Dike said.

    However, the Enugu State Commissioner for Information, Dr Godwin Udeuhele in a swift reaction refuted the debt claim by EEDC.

    Udeuhele said that contrary to the claim, it was the company that owed the state government N300 million from over billings.

    The commissioner said when the debt issue arose, a joint committee was set up to sort out the matter as well as to find out the true position of the debt.

    He said that before the committee started work, the state government had in error remitted N100 million to EEDC as part of the supposed debt.

    “The true position is that the state government had paid N100 million out of the outrageous bills they brought.

    “The two parties then agreed to set up a committee to reconcile the bills.

    “The joint committee sat severally and observed that the EEDC was the one owing the state government N300 million in over billings.

    “Unfortunately, the representatives of the EEDC in the joint committee refused to sign the report of the committee they participated in and this gave rise to the intervention of the state assembly,” Udeuhele said.

  • Anambra residents give EEDC one week ultimatum over blackout, high bills

    Anambra residents give EEDC one week ultimatum over blackout, high bills

    Anambra residents have given the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) in Awka one week to restore light to the residents in Awka or be closed down.

     
    The threat by Anambra residents to shut down EEDC offices in the state, has heightened tension in the entire environment.
     
     The residents were led in a mini protest at the weekend by Engr. Kenneth Moneke, under the auspices of Anambra Association of Electricity Consumers (AAEC) with the youths being held back not to cause mayhem.
     
    Among the delegation were local government chairmen, medical doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, professors, market leaders and security personnel.
     
    According to the angry residents, some of the areas had not had light for the past four months, while the residents kept receiving estimated bills from (EEDC) amounting over 20,000 naira a month.
     
    According to Moneke, “we do not want to allow the youths to take to violence, what we need is peace in the land, but by next week Friday, if (EDDC) fails to address this issue, we will have no other option than to close down (EEDC) offices in the state”
     
    “The explanations from this office are not well received by the people because electricity distribution is not a rocket science but practical”
     
    “We have come to realize that what you do in this state is to make money for those in charge and allow the poor masses to suffer the consequences, but we are here today to tell you that such idea will end immediately”
     
    “The situation has touched everybody, this place will be shutdown, just take the message to the appropriate authorities because we have seen the problems are beyond you” Moneke told the manager.  
     
    In his response, the manager of Awka distribution centre, Mr. Samuel Onuorah Udemgba, said that (EEDC) ran a system that was controlled by the Nigerian electricity regulation commission (NERC).
     
    “The commission gave (EEDC) a template that we follow, the problem is not from us, the consumers have every right to be angry”
     
    “We are going to work now based on the visit, but you should know that the two transformers from Nibo substation are having problems, in fact, what we use now is the smaller one for the entire Awka and this is a major challenge we are facing right now”
     
    “What we are asking from you people is to have patience with (EEDC) as the company is making every arrangement in making sure that things return to normal” Udemgba said
  • EEDC to provide customers with meters

    EEDC to provide customers with meters

    The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), on Monday, said it was committed to providing its customers in five states of the South-East with smart meters in 2017 for reducing complaints about high bills.

    The Head, Communications Department, EEDC, Mr Emeka Eze, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Aba on Monday.

    He said the company had started providing meters in Awkunanaw area of Enugu State, adding that other states will gradually be metered.

    “Metering is one major thing we are taking very seriously in the New Year. Over N9 billion had been invested in the metering project so far in the last one year.

    “The metering gap is quite huge and we do not have the resources to provide meters for everybody at the same time.

    “We have more than 700,000 unmetered customers in our network. So it is something that will take us a while. The 700,000 are the ones we have in our books.

    “There are electricity consumers we do not have in our books and are the people we are trying to bring into our books through the enumeration we are to start this January’’, he said.

    Eze said part of EEDC’s plan in the new year would be to ensure that its services were improved to give customers value for their money.

    He expressed hope that generating companies would improve their generation and so improve the volume of electricity distribution to customers.

    He said EEDC was forced to manage the little electricity they were supplied, adding that the vandalism of oil pipes lately had contributed to the low level of supply being experienced.

    Eze urged the customers of EEDC not to delay in bringing complaints about service problems to the customer service centres created newly to ease access to the managers for quick solutions.