Abuja Electricity Distribution Company Plc (AEDC) has denied declaring any “Force Majeure“ over the new Eligible Customer Policy in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).
“Force Majeure “ is a contractual and legal announcement, which is used to declare the inability of a party to meet up with a contractual obligation with another party in business.
The Minister of Power, Works, Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, had on May 15, declared four categories of customers that could purchase power direct (eligible customers) from the generation companies in the NESI.
The declaration, which permits electricity customers to buy power directly from the generation companies, is in line with the provisions of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2005.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had also on Nov 6, presented the regulations to guide the implementation of the customer eligibility in the NESI.
AEDC in a statement by its Head, Corporate Communications, Mr Oyebode Fadipe, said the information in the media on declaration of force majeur came to AEDC as a shock.
Fadipe said AEDC was surprised, when its name was listed in some media as one of the DisCos that declared force majeure on eligible customer policy of the Federal Government.
“We have neither declared any force majeure nor have we conveyed such intention to either the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) nor Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC)
“AEDC did not discuss with any other stakeholder in the Nigerian electricity supply industry nor do we intend to do so anytime soon”.
Fadipe urged AEDC’s customers and stakeholders to disregard the story as it had nothing to do with the company as a player in the NESI.