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Kano Electricity Distribution Company (Kano DisCo) has accused the Kano branch of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) of unfairly antagonising it despite efforts to improve supply and grant exclusive electricity discounts worth about N3 billion to members over the past year.
In May, MAN members had told officials of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) that their biggest challenge was Kano DisCo’s inefficiency in supplying electricity to industrial clusters. The DisCo had immediately rejected this claim, describing it as misleading and inaccurate.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Kano DisCo said it introduced a special support programme to help manufacturers adjust to new tariff realities. Despite this, the company alleged that MAN continues to portray it negatively, including suggesting that members are seeking supply directly from NDPHC.
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“Kano DisCo has transitioned most of its industrial and manufacturing partnerships away from MAN in the past 12 months, and the suggestion that MAN will receive direct supply from NDPHC will not significantly impact our commercial operations, even if it were possible under current regulations and technical realities,” the utility firm said.
The DisCo also recalled that the association last year advised its members against paying regulatory-approved tariffs and went to court over the matter but lost the case.
Still, Kano DisCo said it introduced a discounted transitional tariff in May 2024, which has amounted to a cumulative cost of about N3 billion.
Despite extending the discounts to key industrial feeders such as 33kV Dangote, 33kV Dr Jamil, 33kV Flour Mills and 33kV Coca-Cola, the DisCo claimed it continued to incur billing losses averaging N2.5 billion monthly due to energy theft by maximum demand industrial customers.
Attempts to get MAN Kano to support anti-theft measures, the company added, were unsuccessful.
Kano DisCo maintained that it has ensured an average of 20 hours daily supply to its maximum demand customers, amounting to 95 percent compliance with service-based tariff regulations, according to Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) records.
The company said this performance makes it one of the best nationwide and the top-performing DisCo in northern Nigeria in terms of market remittances in Q1 2025.
“It is unfortunate that MAN Kano has neither communicated the partnership to its national body nor acknowledged our support, while consistently painting a false narrative to NDPHC and other stakeholders,” the company said.
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While pledging continued support for industrial customers on a bilateral basis, the DisCo said it will no longer extend such arrangements through MAN, urging the association to pursue constructive engagements rather than making statements that could create panic in the market.
