By Obinna Unaeze
The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) says it has spent over N500 million to improve electricity supply from about five hours to over 15 hours per day in Minna, Niger.
Mr Mahamud Keni, Regional Manager, AEDC, Niger region, disclosed this on Tuesday to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna.“The financial implication of the equipment we used to improve power supply in Minna is over N500 million,” he said.Keni said that the AEDC had highlighted a lot of challenges facing electricity supply in the state and perfected strategies on how to tackle them.“We came up with a lot of strategies and one of them was replacement of damaged equipments responsible for the epileptic power supply experienced by consumers in the state,” he said.
He explained that the AEDC replaced 11 damaged panels which controlled the electricity feeders in Minna and its environs.The area manager added that the damaged panels had been in operation for long, making the company to combine two or three feeders to one panel.“As a result of this immediately the feeders get hot the power supply will trip off, thereby causing interruption of electricity supply.“
Before now, we could not supply electricity for more than five hours at a stretch due to the damaged panels,” he said.He said the move had resulted in the improvement of power supply witnessed by consumers in Minna and its environment in the past two month.Keni noted that other boost to the electricity supply was commitment and team work by staff and also improvement in power generation.He said another of such efforts was replacement of seven damaged distribution transformers of 133KV and 11KV by the company.
The area manager said that the current achievement had spurred the electricity consumers to pay their bills.“In the last one month we have witnessed an increase in the payment of electricity bills. I think the people are happy,” he said.He said that the company had set up a committee to monitor and tackle any emergency trip-off of electricity in Minna area.Keni advised electricity consumers in the state to always put off any electric gadget not in use in order to conserve energy.He urged the electricity consumers to also change to the improved energy bulbs towards conserving energy and improving electricity supply.He enjoined the consumers to shun meter bye-pass as there would be serious consequences awaiting defaulters under the law.He appealed to electricity consumers to always pay their bills as the company is committed to serving them better and surpasse the current achievement.Keni therefore appealed to consumers in other part of the state to be patient with the company as they are working towards extending same improved power supply to them.A customer, Fatima Mohammed, said the improvement in power supply had made her to resume her business where she lives in Tunga area of Minna.Also, Mr Desmond Okechukwu, a resident of Minna, said that the regular power supply had impacted positively on his tailoring job. (NAN)
