BY CHIDI NKWOPARA, OWERRI

The management of Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, EEDC, has decried what it called “the palpable reluctance of electricity consumers, within its area of jurisdiction, to pay for power they consumed”.

The EEDC Managing Director, Mr. Robert Dickerman, who made the lamentation during the company’s Customer Consultation Forum held in Owerri, was also not happy that about 50 percent of its earned revenue was unfortunately and inexplicably withheld by consumers.

Addressing the issue of vandalization, Dickerman appealed to customers to resist the temptation of dealing with touts instead of bonafide staff of the establishment.

“The poor public power supply stemmed from years of neglect of the sector. A lot of things need to be done and EEDC takes full responsibility of getting it right”, Dickerman said.

While reminding consumers that the company’s brief does not include transmission, the EEDC boss however commended the Federal Government for taking the bold step to privatize the power sector.

In a similar development, Electricity Consumers in the South East and South-South geo-political zones of the country want stakeholders in the sector to take urgent steps towards improving power supply to Nigerians.

The meeting provided a platform for electricity consumers to interact with the officials of Enugu, Port Harcourt and Benin Electricity Distribution companies on ways of improving quality of service.

Unavailability of pre-paid meters, estimated billing system, faulty installations which often lead to power outage and fixed charges were the major issues that dominated the discussions.

While some people sought to know the justification for the payment of fixed charges, even when they experience black out for months, others called for the provision of pre-paid meters as a way of checking what they described as extortion.

In their separate reactions, Dickerman and his counterpart from Port Harcourt axis, Mr. John Kingsley Achuife, explained that the provision of Meters, installation of transformers and their maintenance were part of the responsibilities of the companies.

In his own remark, the Chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Dr. Sam Amadi, represented by the Commissioner, Finance and Marketing Enugu, Mr. Patrick Umeh, appealed to Nigerians to be patient with the new investors.