Over 85 communities who have been in total power outage in Ondo State will soon be reconnected as the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) has stepped up efforts to restore lights.
The communities were disconnected from the national grid due to service debts that culminated to over N1 billion.
The BEDC Chief State Head, Ondo/Ekiti States, Mrs Kunbi Labiyi, disclosed this on Wednesday during a media parley with journalists in Akure, reiterating that the company was committed to serving its customers better.
The company implored its consumers to refrain from theft and vandalism, urging them to pay their bill because “electricity is no longer a social service entity but a business activity that thrives on demand and supply.”
For over three years, many communities in the north and south senatorial districts of the state have been shut out of power supply, leading to decay of more public utility and infrastructure, especially in the south district.
Labiyi estimated the debts of the 38 communities in the four councils in Akokoland, North District, at over N700m, while the four coastal councils in the South District, owed over N328m.
But she noted that the distribution company had reached a compromise with the customers to effect a more convenient means of offsetting the huge debts, even at a discounted rate.
“What we have told the north to pay is about N38m; we will sit down and reconcile the debt; we will do what what we call enumeration,” she said, revealing that same was also applicable to the south.
She added that six communities in the north had met the terms of condition and that light had already been restored in four, waiting for the other two communities to sign a particular paper.
The BEDC Boss disclosed that the company was meeting with traditional rulers and stakeholders from the south district, under the aegis of Ondo South Consultative Forum (OSCF) and “Bring Back Our Light” group to finalize their agreement.
However, she noted that the 18,527 customers in the south had peculiar problems due to the long term power outage, decay of infrastructure and thick vegetation of the area, describing them as “end users.”
This, the company attributed to the poor 3526 megawatt generated and transmitted among the 11 distribution companies for over 160m Nigerians, while the benchmark is 1,000 megawatt per one million consumers.
BEDC lamented that it gets nine per cent of 3526 megawatts to be distributed among Ondo, Edo, Ekiti and Delta states, while Ondo gets 58.39 which was grossly insufficient for its customers in the state.
She said about 12.1 kilometres of the network span will have to be rerouted while the remaining kilometers out of the whole 42km would be left in the light terrain. She pointed out that the cost was very significant.
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