by James Sambo

The National Assembly should intervene in order to get military formations and the Police to pay their huge debts to electricity distribution companies in the company, the management of the Kano Electricity Distribution Company, KEDCO, has charged.

Chairman of the Committee, Senator Olugbenga Obadara who led other members on a visit to Kano Electricity Distribution Company, KEDCO, said the lawmakers would come up with legislation that will compel electricity consumers to pay for energy consumed and advised the management of KEDCO to come up with incentives that will motivate consumers of electricity to willingly pay their bills.

He also expressed optimism that the privatisation of the power sector will lead to the provision of stable electricity to Nigerians and appealed to the public to be patient with the investors who are dedicating themselves to rehabilitating infrastructure to stabilise power supply on a sustainable basis.

He also commended the management of the company for its plan to expand the network and urged them not to relent in their efforts at making the company a success.

Receiving the Senators, the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of Sahelian Power SPV Limited, owners of Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDC), Dr. Jamil I. Gwamna, said the company had signed an agreement with Ajaokuta Steel Company for the supply of 90MW of electricity to KEDCO to augment the inadequate allocation it currently receives.

He disclosed that plans were on for the company to roll out 100,000 prepaid meters to its customers annually to improve revenue collection.

He added that a system-wide study of the entire network had been completed and future plans made for total repositioning of the company. Initiatives include recruitment of skilled personal; development of policies and procedures for effective management of the revenue value chain; procurement of working tools, operational vehicles and refurbishment offices and working environment geared towards improving service delivery and efficiency. Consequently, collections have progressive grown from 58 percent in January 2014 to 65 percent in August 2014.

In a similar tour of Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Mallam Idris D. Mohammed, appealed to the National Assembly to intervene in order to get the military formations and the Police to pay up the N4.4billion they owed the company and also strengthen the existing legislation to deal with vandals of electricity installations in the country and power theft.

He added that the management had embarked on systematic and result-driven restructuring of the workforce before handing over to the new investors.

Responding, Obadara affirmed that government had no business running businesses and commended the Bureau of Public Enterprises for effectively carrying out its assignment, especially the privatisation of the power sector.

He enjoined the Transitional Committee of Kaduna DISCO to work harder in order to recover the debts owed the company by the military formations and the police.

YEditor