The Senate Committee on Commercialisation and Privatisation on Tuesday said the move by the Benin Electricity Distribution Company to inject the sum of $265m into the firm’s operation would lead to “monumental growth” and bring value to its numerous customers.
The committee said this during an assessment of the company’s operations in Benin, Edo State. The BEDC covers Ekiti, Ondo, Edo and Delta states.
The committee noted that the private investors had increased electricity distribution to the customers since it took over the company on November 1, 2014.
The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Olugbenga Obadara, decried the level of electricity theft among consumers, equipment vandalism and the reluctance of some communities to pay their electricity bills, adding that the Senate would encourage the BEDC to make the financial commitment to check some of the challenges.
Obadara, who commended the company for creating a convenient way of relating with its various customers, however, urged it to employ efficient and diplomatic measures for the collection of electricity bills.
He said, “I believe that the $265m that the BEDC promises to bring into the company is a monumental development, and it will lead to phenomenal growth.
“We want to encourage them to do it because there is a lot of power theft and vandalism; it is a big problem.”
The committee chairman stated that the Senate was aware that the challenges facing the electricity company were enormous, but that they were surmountable.
He stressed the need for the company’s estimated 200,000 consumers to pay their bills promptly.
Obadara stated that Nigerians were expecting great improvement from the new investors that took over the 17 distribution companies in terms of availability of power in the country.
He said the citizens wanted to see huge investments by the buyers, because in the first instance, the government saw that it could not meet up with the investment needed to ensure steady electricity supply.
Obadara said the committee’s visit was to encourage the investors to do what was needed and to ascertain the level of conformity with the agreement they signed with the government prior to taking over the companies.
Earlier, the Managing Director, BEDC, Mrs. Funke Osibodu, said the company had been able to improve customer service process for better service delivery through metering of 11kv feeders, mapping and rehabilitation of all 33kv feeders, and establishment of e-bills platform and call centres, among others.
Osibodu said the company had created a partnership with Elizade University in Ondo State to direct more students to power engineering courses with practical approach, in line with international standards.
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