Oscarline Onwuemenyi
18 August 2016, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola is scheduled to officially launch the distribution of free 50, 000 prepaid meters to consumers of Kaduna Electric Distribution Company (KEDC) in Sokoto, the managing director, Engr. Garba Haruna has said.
A statement from KEDC noted that Engr. Haruna, who was in Sokoto to inspect KEDC facilities, as well as seek further ways of cooperation with the state government, assured that power situation would improve in Nigeria if only gas supply stabilised and consumers paid their bills as expected.
According to Haruna, the 50, 000 prepaid meters will be distributed to KEDC franchise states which include, Kaduna, Kebbi, Zamfara and Sokoto.
Haruna also disclosed that the total debt in the four states ran into billions of Naira, saying in Kaduna alone KEDC is owed about N78 billion.
He lamented that majority of costumers default in the payment of electricity bills, out of KEDC’s potential customer base of about 2 million.
He noted that only about 400, 000 were up-to-date in electricity bill payment, as the remaining 1.6 million consumers used power free of charge, hence they were not captured in KEDC data.
Commenting on the state of Sokoto State Independent Power Project (IPP), he said the project is a reality, hence its almost 90 percent completed and has the capacity of providing enough power for the state, which explains why they have come to seek partnership on the improved power supply.
He also appealed to the people of the state that KEDC was not behind the epileptic or unsatisfactory power supply in the state. Adding that it is the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) that is responsible for transmitting power to state, they only distribute the 8 percent of total megawatts given to them by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
Engr. Haruna was accompanied on the inspection visit by KEDC Chairman Board of Directors, Yusuf Hamisu, the Chief Engineering and Technical Services, Engr. Bello Musa, and the Chief Marketing and Customer Officer, Murtala Bello.