Benin Electricity Distribution Plc.(BEDC) has assured the residents of Agbor made up of Ika South and Ika East local governments of sustained power supply to their areas, saying the company is ready to continue to improve on this development provided they pay their bills promptly.
Albert Esenabhalu, BEDC’s Chief State Head, Delta, stated this at the Agbor Business Unit Customer.
It will be recalled that the Agbor area of Delta state had recorded poor electricity supply in the past due to its disadvantage network configuration, as the only feeder servicing the entire area runs from Irrua covering over 62 kilometers through thick vegetation and bad roads thus constraining power supply.
However, the 132KVA line step-down at Agbor awarded over 10 years has just been commissioned thus boosting power supply.
Esenabhalu affirmed that the Ika nation was getting not less than 12 hours of supply but could have been getting more if not for the challenge of low generation to the national grid occasioned by gas shortage and vandalisation of gas pipeline.
He noted that generation had dropped to 1500 megawatts nationwide, saying that in such situation, it was difficult increasing supply to operational areas given BEDC allocation of 9 per cent.
Esenabhalu added, “In spite of this, we need to let our customers understand the need to pay their bills, as we buy energy as well, without which we cannot serve them effectively the way we want to”.
The Chief State Head, who noted that the drop in power generation was affecting BEDC’s ability to circulate power to customers despite its installed capacity, said that the company was working towards taking advantage of government’s window on independent power generation to augment its allocation from the grid and increase supply on the long run.
He warned Agbor residents against illegal connections, bypass and vandalism of BEDC installations in their domain, emphasising that only this could militate against electricity supply in the area.
In his own contribution, Chairman, Ika south local government, Fred Ofume told the customers that the council held a meeting with BEDC management during which far reaching decisions bordering on service delivery were made after exhaustive deliberations.
According to Ofume, the decisions include the need to enumerate the communities, need to introduce Point of Sales (PoS) through collection agents in lieu of banks in some areas, the setup of Electricity Committee in the communities and need to install bulk prepaid meters on the transformers in communities.
Ofume, who appreciated the challenges and reality BEDC was facing in the course of operating as a distribution company (Disco), promised that Agbor residents, being hospitable will do their best to assist BEDC in the realisation of its corporate objectives.
He however harped on the need to increase manpower of field officers reading meters of customers and those involved in tracing of faults.
