Mal. Danladi Baba,
Regional Manager,AEDC,Lokoja.
By Dada Ahmed in Lokoja.
Mal. Danladi Baba, the Regional Manager,Abuja Electricity Distribution Company(AEDC), Lokoja has attributed the “little drop” in energy supply to Lokoja and its environs to unfriendly weather prompting hike in energy consumption, to the recent drop in generation and allocation of energy across the country.
Baba,who stated this on Monday while chatting with some Journalists in his office in Lokoja, added that the current high cost of electricity bill was also due to high energy corresponding consumption and in some instances, unnecessary use of electrical appliances by consumers.
The regional manager noted that before he came on board “there was almost 24-hour supply of electricity on all the fielders in both 11 and 33 kv in the area but that as time went on, the nation witnessed drop in generation and allocation of energy,a development he said affected Lokoja.
“In fact, some of the generating stations were down across the 11 discos in the country, consequent upon that, there was minimal drop in electricity supply to consumers in Lokoja and its environs, compared to other areas of the country,”,he said.
According to him, the “unfriendly weather” in Lokoja has also prompted electricity consumers to use more appliances thereby increasing the rate of energy consumption and the consequent high electricity bill.
Baba,who said that many electricity consumers who complained of high bill did that without taking into cognizance the fact that, they were charged according to how they consumed electricity,described the monthly electricity bill being distributed to customers as “fair”.
He said that the company had taken cognizance the fact that, areas under 11 kv fielder experienced low shedding due to inadequate energy being allocated to Lokoja, compared to areas under 33 kv fielder that were almost on 24 hours light supply.
According to him, areas with constant power supply would invariably pay higher bill than areas experiencing low shedding and less energy supply.
“So what we did is that, areas under 11 kv fielder, we gave them bill of N13,800 per month while areas on low shedding and those with technical issues we billed N 7,200 and those having almost 24 hours light,we gave them N17,000. The simulation was done in a such away that no consumer will complain.
“However, there are some pockets of accounts (3,200 accounts), on low shedding substations mixed up instead of being , placed.on 11 kv fielder as a result of gathering data by officers and were being billed N17,000 instead of N13,000.
“Efforts are on to ensure that such accounts get credit adjustment of the value added to them which is not to be billed upon them.
According to Baba,17 megatt-hour is being evacuated from the national grid to Lokoja, adding that the previous one was 16.9 megawatt, adding that the difference is negligible.
The regional manager,who expressed the determination of AEDC to offer efficient services to its customers, however, advised them to purchase prepaid meters,if they were not satisfied with the current services, assuring them that purchasing such equipment could be done and owned within two days upon payment.
