By; ADAMA JOHN, Lokoja
Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), Kogi Regional office has claimed that over N22 billion worth of consumed energy is being owed by electricity consumers in the state.
The Regional Manager, AEDC, Mr. Danladi Baba disclosed this in an interview with journalists on Saturday in Lokoja.
According to him, the customers as a whole, are owing AEDC over N22 billion worth of debt, and every month they add value to their debt.
He said the state government alone is owing N483 million as of April 2023, while other debts are from private individuals, companies and other customers.
“For the past four months in Kogi, we import energy of nothing less than N1 billion but we hardly get N500 million in average every month.
“We encourage our customers to pay their electricity supply debt to avoid the AEDC from being disconnected from the National Grid,” Baba said.
The regional manager stressed that regular payment of electricity bills and outstanding debt would lead to improved electricity supply for customers to enjoy.
He explained that some Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos), who could not fulfil the obligation of the market, were recently disconnected by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) from the National Grid.
This he said, is because of their inability to pay for what they imported as energy.
“The obligation of the market is that you must meet up with the payment for the energy that you are taking.
“Thank God the AEDC is not part of those Discos that were disconnected and that is why we are appealing to our customers to pay up their accumulated bills.
“If care is not taken, the disconnection by TCN from the grid can affect AEDC also,” Baba said.
He, however, noted that the drop in the electricity supply in March and April was due to the shortfall in the allocation given to them by TCN from the National Grid.
“We can only dispense to our customers what is being allocated to us. We hope for improvement in the allocation very soon.
“The highest we have gotten in a month is N543 million and sometimes it drops below N500 million”, he said.
