The electricity consumers at Itire, Lawanson, Idi-Araba, and Mushin have tasked Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) to improve its service delivery. The residents of these communities made the demand to the DisCo during an engagement forum last week at the Great Ville Hotels in Surulere, Lagos.
According to the spokesperson of the Company, Godwin Idemudia, ‘the purpose of the town hall meetings is part of our continuous engagement with our customers to let us know how we can serve them better by listening to their challenges.
The management is keen on establishing a closer relationship with customers across our network, hence the engagement forums. This is the third engagement forum since Dr. Tinuade Sanda assumed the role as Managing Director/CEO of EKEDC following the ones we held for customers in Ijora and Ojo districts.’
Represented by the Chief Finance Officer, Mr. Joseph Esenwa, the MD/CEO of Eko DisCo, Dr. Tinuade Sanda, assured the customers that the company will do better in meeting their expectations. She said, ‘it is obvious that the electricity industry is going through numerous challenges that are even beyond the capacity of the DisCos, which are causing setbacks to power supply. As the face of the power industry to the consumers, it is essential for us to actively engage our customers on platforms such as this to identify their problems and provide solutions.
The customers lauded EKEDC for taking such a measure but decried the impact of the challenges they face such as the drop in electricity supply, overloaded distribution transformers, estimated billings, and challenges in getting prepaid meters. The Chairman of Customer Consultative Forum in Mushin, Honourable Afeez Lawal requested the DisCo to provide more prepaid meters which according to him is the solution to the menace of estimated billing to customers. In his account, Mr. Lawal Musa representing Idi-Araba Community charged Eko DisCo to replace the deteriorated poles and wires that are preventing adequate power supply and causing safety hazards.
While addressing the complaints, Dr. Sanda through the CFO, explained to the customers that inadequate gas supply, low power generation, system collapse, and vandalism have contributed to the drop in power supply, and they are not peculiar to only EKEDC. However, she assured that the company is currently working with the other industry stakeholders to ensure these challenges are reduced to the barest minimum. ‘We are upgrading our distribution infrastructure across our network with a loan from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The network improvement projects may not be going as quickly as you had anticipated but I can assure you that we will get to your areas.’ In addition to this, Dr. Sanda urged the customers to embrace the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) scheme provided by the Government in closing the metering gap before the commencement of Phase 1 of the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP). She further announced the mobile metering exercise by Eko DisCo to ensure customers get metered within 72 hours of payment confirmation.
