Ikeja Electric’s appeal to consumers over erratic power supply

* Blames poor electricity situation on low gas supply to GenCos

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

Perhaps sensing the continued collateral damage that erratic power supply has wreaked on the lives of its consumers and their businesses and its attendant frustration among the populace over time, the Management of Ikeja Electric (IE) has appealed to customers over the ongoing power shortage being experienced in its operational network in South-West Nigeria.

Agency report says Mr. Felix Ofulue, Head of Corporate Communications, Ikeja Electric, stated Wednesday, March 11, that the power shortage was being experienced across the country due to low gas supply to electricity Generation Companies (GenCos).

Mr. Ofulue said: “We are appealing to our esteemed customers to be patient because the situation is beyond our control.

“The Transmission Company of Nigeria has said the gas shortage has restrained the ability of many thermal power stations to generate optimally.

“This situation is going to persist till the next few days as some of the power plants are undergoing maintenance. But after then, we are hoping that normalcy will be restored.”

According to him, IE is committed to improving its services to electricity consumers, as it has introduced several initiatives toward achieving the objective.

However, All Electricity Consumers’ Protection Forum, an advocacy group, nonetheless, called for an overhaul of the electricity sector value chain due to epileptic power supply in the country.

Adeola Samuel-Ilori, National Coordinator of the forum, said there was the need to investigate the claim by Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) that the ongoing supply shortage was due to low gas supply to the thermal stations.

Samuel-Ilori said: “Nigeria is a gas producing country, and we have abundance of gas yet we are told that we cannot power our thermal stations due to gas constraints.

“I think this needs to be investigated because we know in the past that these GenCos were being owed huge amounts of money by TCN and the electricity distribution companies.”

He stated that the group desires to know if TCN’s claim is what is really responsible for erratic power supply.

As we speak (Wednesday), there are other manufacturing companies that are getting gas to do their production and they are not having any shortage, he said.

He added that the majority of electricity consumers who are subjected to estimated billing by the DisCos would still be made to pay for services not rendered at the end of the month.

“That is why we are demanding metering of all electricity customers because once this is done, all the stakeholders in the value chain will sit up and find a lasting solution to the issue of power cuts,” Samuel-Ilori submitted.

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