…Company expecting 120,000 meters in July
Mkpoikana Udoma18 March 2017, Sweetcrude, Port Harcourt – Residents of Graceland community in Oyigbo Local Government Area of Rivers State has dragged the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company, PHEDC, before the Port Harcourt High Court over failure of the company to provide them with prepaid meters.
One of the claimants, Mr. Prince Onukwugha, said residents of Graceland community are not happy that the distribution company has denied them the right to use public power supply for the past one.
Onukwugha prays the court to force PHEDC to pay damages for failing to honour the agreement reached with the community months ago.
The case when called up in the court was however stalled as there was no representative for the distribution company in the court.
The Presiding Judge, Justice Emmanuel Ogbuji, however adjourned the case to30th of May 2017 for mention.
When contacted, the spokesperson of the distribution company, Mr. John Onyi, said the company is not aware of the court case, as the company has not been served any suit.
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of PHEDC, Mr. Jay McCoskey has said that the company is expecting a total of 120,000 prepaid meters in July 2017.
McCoskey while appearing before the Rivers State House of Assembly Committee on Power, yesterday, said the 120,000 meters is for consumers in Rivers State.
“Yes, we have a total of 120, 000 prepaid meters coming in for our customers in Rivers State this year. As for blackout, we have a problem because we don’t generate the electricity we only distribute it. We produce about 700megawatts of power in Rivers State alone but unfortunately only about 200megawatts is all that we can provide,” McCoskey said.
