The acting Managing Director of the Eko Electricity Distribution Company, Mrs Rekhiat Momoh, disclosed that the company was being owed N144 billion by ministries, departments and agencies in its area of operation.
Momoh announced this on Tuesday when the House of Representatives Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation visited the company in Lagos.
According to Momoh, the Nigerian military, the police and other state government agencies have refused to pay their electricity debts, thus, posing a challenge for the DisCo.
The PUNCH recalls that electricity distribution companies in Nigeria recently lamented that no fewer than 20 of the 36 state governments in the country have refused to pay their electricity bills.The Discos said some states owed electricity bills consumed by the state house or the secretariat.
“If you look at all our states right now, at least 20 states are seen to be owing electricity bills in either the government house or MDAs,” the Executive Director of Research and Advocacy, Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors, Sunday Oduntan, told our correspondent last week.
Oduntan regretted that when the Discos attempted to recover the debts from the state governments, they would have their offices sealed over claims of unpaid taxes to the states.
The EKEDC CEO emphasised that despite challenges in the power sector, the company had successfully minimised its aggregate technical, commercial, and collections losses ratio.
She said the EKEDC had reduced the AtC&C losses ratio from 35 per cent in 2023 to 15.1 per cent in 2024.
Momoh added that the company has over 700,000 of its customers metered.She added that the DisCo was working out modalities in collaboration with the Federal Government Distribution Sector Recovery Programme to procure an additional 92,000 meters for its customers.
He stated that the EKEDC had made significant improvements in technology, provision of meters and transformers, noting, “EKEDC is the only DisCo that fulfils its monthly obligations remittance to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading company.”
Also, the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation, Hamisu Ibrahim, stated the committee’s resolve to work with relevant committees in the House to pass legislation on electricity theft in the country.
Ibrahim, who led other members of the committee on an oversight visit to the Eko DisCo, decried the rate of electricity theft in the country, saying the legislation would check the abuse.In a statement by Head of Public Communications, Amina Othman, the chairman called for collaboration between the committee and electricity power companies for effective and efficient power supply in the country.
He noted that such collaborative efforts would allow the committee to know the challenges facing the power companies, and to provide legislative solutions.
The lawmaker maintained that the visit was in line with the legislative functions of the committee to oversee all privatised and concessioned enterprises by the Bureau of Public Enterprises.
He said the committee and the power companies would work closely to fight electricity theft by unpatriotic consumers, adding that the House had already passed a motion for the quick recovery of debts owed by power companies by Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
A member of the committee, Decour Damnemunene, expressed concern over the categorisation of various customers in Band A, which had resulted in most electricity consumers not paying for the electricity they consume.
29th August 2024
