The Management of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) Plc on Friday attributed power outage in its franchise states of Edo, Delta, Ondo and Ekiti to low power generation by the generating companies (Gencos).
The Chief Technical Officer (CTO), BEDC, Engr. Jonathan Lawani, while giving an overview of BEDC operations during a Media parley in Benin said, the power problem currently being experienced in the state was not peculiar to BEDC alone but affecting all Discos.
Lawani stated that Nigeria was heavily dependent on gas for power generation adding that, the gas suppliers have refused to supply gas to generating companies because they have not been paid for supplies made.
“Gas suppliers are saying Gencos are owning, Gencos are saying TCN is owning, TCN is saying Discos are owning and Discos are saying that customers are not paying their bills.
“So if power supply must improve, customers have a role to play by paying for electricity consumed through BEDC accredited billing agents,” he said.
He also attributed the non availability of power to the increased energy theft and vandalisation of currently ongoing in its network.
He noted that out of every 10 meters installed, six are tampered with either at the point of installation or after installation resulting to loss of revenue.
“This is a major problem in all the Discos not only in BEDC. And you will agree with us that we need this revenue to purchase energy for distribution and improve our operation.”
“We are working with the various state governments where we operate to come up with regulations to curb the menace,” he added.
Speaking further, he said the Minister of Power, Bayou Adelabu, was working round the clock to resolve the low generation problem adding that BEDC has resulted in load shedding of the power allocated to it.
He said BEDC have concluded the upgrade of its Network and now have over 75 33KVA voltage lines covering over 5,000Km in terms of length and over 3,022 11KVA feeders that provides service to customers.
He noted that with the upgrade, BEDC now has capacity to take more power when generation improves.
The CTO appealed to the media to join in the fight against vandals adding that, the company recorded more than 10 cases of vandalism on a daily basis.
He called on the various communities across BEDC operation areas to take responsibility of the network lines in their domains.
