The management of Eko Electricity Distribution Company Plc (EKEDC) has assured its customers of improved power supply.
The company said it was committed to improved electricity supply based on what it received from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
Mr Oladele Amoda, the Chief Executive Officer, gave the assurance at a town hall meeting with some customers under the Mushin axis in Lagos on Friday.
Amoda, who was represented by Mr Sam Nwaire, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of EKEDC, appealed to customers to exercise patience over the current instability in electricity supply in the country.
“We all know what Nigeria is going through today, the challenge is everywhere.
“I know how you people feel and I want to tell you also that we are not also happy with the power situation but I want to assure you that we are doing all we can, under the law, to improve power supply to our customers,” he said.
Amoda said that EKEDC was entitled to 11 per cent of power generation from the national grid but presently, it was not getting adequate energy due to ongoing challenges in the power sector.
According to him, the company has started a special arrangement with the Egbin Power Plant to buy 100megawatts for dedicated customers, without going through the national grid.
He explained that the arrangement would make those customers to pay a little more, but with guaranteed stable power supply.
“Very soon, we will be taking 45MW from Paras Energy and we are also in discussion with the Lagos State Government on how we can be buying power from them to supply our customers.
“Behind the stadium, we want to build another 1x15MVA substation to boost supply in the Surulere axis, with approval from the regulators. We have been to Abuja twice with Hon. Desmond Elliot on this issue,’’ he said.
When asked if the Credited Advance Payment for Metering Implementation (CAPMI) has failed, he stated that “I do not agree that CAPMI has failed.
“What happened was that some Discos didn’t actually play according to the rules.
“The rule was that, whatever the fund the customer is bringing, you must be transparent over it, to the extent that you give the fund back from the day the person started taking the image.
“When the regulator came to us, we showed them evidence to show that the customers actually had the returns on investment.
“But some Discos did not do that and the regulator felt that their integrity is at stake and they felt that the only way to do it is by working with those who are doing it well.
“We asked them to go back and put up another plan and it should be their plan, not the regulatory plan and that was how we got into what we are doing now.
“So as we speak, we believe CAPMI is a success and it was able to bring in nothing less than 86,000 meters into our network.
“ If we are allowed to market that kind of project, I think within the next three years, we will be doing better with our metering plan,’’ he said.
Nwaire said that over 138 faulty transformers had been replaced by the company to boost power supply to customers within its network.
He said that the equipment, which cost over N700 million, had been installed in different locations to effectively boost supply to customers.
He lauded the company’s directors who had gone to source the funds to acquire the equipment, in the interest of the network’s teeming customers.
“We have embarked on massive replacement of faulty transformers within the network; we expect customers to reciprocate this gesture by paying their bills,” he said.
“We also expect communities that will benefit from the transformers not to see them as public property but as their own, so that they can help safeguard the transformers against vandalism by unscrupulous elements.
According to the COO, EKEDC had lost over N1 billion in the past three years to various forms of energy theft, as cases of meter bye-pass by customers to avoid payment became very rampant, just as equipment vandalism was on the increase. (NAN)
YO/NNO/PIO