Lockdown: EKEDC assures Lagos assembly stable power supply to residents

Eko Electricity Distribution Company Plc (EKEDC) has assured the Lagos State House of Assembly that it was working to ensure stable power supply to residents toward cushioning the effect of the COVID-19 lockdown in the state.

Mr Adeoye Fadeyibi, Managing Director, EKEDC, gave the assurance on Wednesday during an oversight visit of the joint House Committee on Energy and Mineral Resources and Information and Strategy to the DisCo.

It was reported that President Muhammadu Buhari had declared a lockdown in Lagos, Ogun and Abuja effective March 31 to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the country.

Fadeyibi said the Coronavirus pandemic had created several challenges in all sectors of the economy including the power sector, leading to non-essential staff working from home.

He said that ahead of the lockdown, EKEDC had established a COVID-19 team to come up with how to address the issue of logistics of people and materials during the period.

Fadeyibi explained that the complaints of inadequate power supply by customers within its network was understandable due to the peculiarities that exist among the players in the electricity value chain.

According to him, power cuts can be as a result of low supply from electricity generation companies or inability of the Transmission Company of Nigeria to transmit the power to the distribution companies.

He said it could also be as a result of technical faults within the distribution network, adding that EKEDC had put measures in place to quickly respond to such complaints by customers.

Fadeyibi said: “EKEDC does not have prestige customers. We are a regulated market and our allocation goes to everyone.

“Complaints are normal and there is room for improvement. We are asking that people should exercise patience and communicate with us on the platforms set up for that purpose to resolve the issues.”

He also clarified that the DisCos could not offer the proposed two months free electricity to Nigerians during the lockdown because the stimulus package and enabling legislature had not been put in place by the government.

“EKEDC has also been doing its best to support the government during this critical period. That is why our board and management approved a budget of N150 million towards assisting the government.

“We have provided relief items for the low income earners and less privileged. We have also invested in infrastructure to deliver consistent electricity to isolation centres within our coverage area,” Fadeyibi said.

Earlier, Mr Jimi Mohammed, Chairman, House Committee on Energy and Mineral Resources and his counterpart on Strategy and Information, Mr Tunde Braimoh, said the visit was to find out how power supply could be improved by EKEDC.

The lawmakers said complaints received from the 40 Constituencies in Lagos State indicated that power supply had decreased in recent weeks, hence there was need for the DisCos to sit up.

On his part, Mr Olawale Oluwo, Lagos State Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, commended EKEDC for the support to the government, especially with increasing electricity supply to the COVID-19 isolation centres.

“EKEDC have been a good partner but we expect them to do more than they have been doing as we move to post COVID-19,” he said.