DisCos under fire as power outages worsen nationwide

DisCos under fire as power outages worsen nationwide

Some electricity distribution companies (DisCos) are partly responsible for the incessant power outages experienced in the country, according to disclosures made by the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, yesterday.

The minister alleged that such discos have deliberately not been taking up power supply from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), thus denying would be consumers electricity supply.

Power outages have worsened across the country in the last few weeks with the DisCos attributing the situation to gas shortage.

Consumers are separately accusing the DisCos of arbitrary billings, unauthorised disconnections, customer abuse and disregard for capping, among other allegations.

Following the deteriorating electricity supply across the country, Adelabu yesterday invited the Chief Executives of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) and Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) for a meeting later this week to review the situation.

READ ALSO:

• Court jails 2 in Lagos over romance scam, impersonation
• Navy intercepts ship carrying two million litres of stolen fuel to Benin Republic
• Harvard students commemorate 116 Palestinians killed in Gaza with poignant shoe tribute

Also invited to the meeting is the TCN Managing Director, Sule Abdulazeez.

The minister, in a letter signed by the Director, Distribution Services in the ministry, Engr. B.U. Mustapha, said the meeting was called to discuss issues bordering on the worsening electricity supply in their regions with a view to proffering a lasting solution.

The minister’s Special Adviser on Strategic Communications and Media Relations, Bolaji Tunji, quoted him as saying the management of other non-performing DisCos would be similarly queried as reports continue to filter in on the situation in their regions.

“These two DIsCos (AEDC and IBEDC) have been summoned due to the worsening power supply situation in their regions despite improved supply from TCN,” he said.

He said gas shortage notwithstanding, the ministry has been putting pressure on the generating companies (GENCOs) to improve performance and generation has been ramped up to over 4000MW in recent days.

DisCos under fire as power outages worsen nationwide