By Giwa SHIILE
The Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) has denied the reported existence of a directive ordering stoppage of payment of electricity bills by the consumers.
The Spokesman of the company, Mr Tayo Adekunle, made the clarification on Tuesday in Benin.
Adekunle also denied the rumour that the operating licence of the company had been withdrawn.
He alleged that the Edo State Civil Societies Organisations (EDOSCO) had been peddling rumour that the BEDC operating licence had been withdrawn, describing it as fictitious.
“The attention of the management has been drawn to a fictitious online publication posted by the EDOSCO that the operating license of BEDC has been withdrawn and that customers in Benin, should not pay for electricity based on this position.
“We wish to strongly condemn the publication in its entirety which is propaganda by EDOSCO, an organisation peddling misinformation, after BEDC instituted court cases against some of its members for illegal tampering with power equipment.
“Our esteemed customers should thus discountenance such deliberate misrepresentation as there is no withdrawal of the license of BEDC,” he said.
The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), last week in Benin, said that the licence of the BEDC was not being renewed.
The Federal Government agency that midwifed the privatisation the electricity sector added that no any other electricity distribution company across the country was having its liceence renewed.
The BPE Director General, Mr Alex Okoh, said the licences issued to BEDC and other distribution companies (Discos) were for 15 years, with a renewal option of another 10 years.
