Efforts by the Benin Electricity Distribution Plc (BEDC) to tackle electricity equipment vandalism have yielded result with the sentence of a cable vandal, Mr. Abdullai Usman.

The companysaid in a statement that the vandal was sentenced to five years imprisonment with hard labour without option of fine by the Magistrate Court, Iguobazuwa in Edo State.

electricity

The victim, aged 27 years was caught on the 28th of September 2017, at Iguobazuwa while trying to cart away vandalised conductor cables from Iguobazuwa/Okada 33KV Line, an act punishable under the Miscellaneous Offences Act M17 Vol 9 laws of the country. He was dragged before the Presiding Magistrate Joyce .O. Ejale (Mrs) where he pleaded guilty to a three count charge of conspiracy, stealing and malicious damage even though their terms will run concurrently.

The company stated at its website that: ‘’BEDC is one of the retail electricity distribution companies licensed by the federal government. Benin Electricity Distribution Company  is one of the successor distribution companies (DISCOS) created following the unbundling and privatization of the state-owned power utility, Power Holding Company of Nigeria Plc.

‘’BEDC is responsible for retail distribution of electricity in Delta, Edo, Ekiti, and Ondo States with geographical coverage of 55,770 square kilometres.

‘’The company operates from twenty five (25) business districts with approximately 350 offices located across the four (4) states with about 13 million people and about 4 million households.

‘’BEDC is a joint venture between Vigeo Power Limited (Vigeo Power) and the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) represented by Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and the Ministry of Finance (MOFI), with the majority being held by Vigeo Power as the core investor.

‘’BEDC through the majority equity partner (Vigeo Power) has highly experienced and competent investors and technical partners  comprising amongst others  of Vigeo Holdings Limited (Vigeo Holdings) as the  Lead Financial Investor.

Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) as an  Investor, Global Utilities Management Company Limited (GUMCO) as Technical Service Provider/Financial Investor and NDPL INFRA Limited (NDPL) as Technical Service Provider.

‘’GUMCO is a leading power utilities management company in Nigeria with over 12years track record of performance in Ikeja, Ikorodu and Benin in Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) and National Pre-Paid Metering Program (NPPMP) programs, both of which are private sector initiatives. GUMCO maintains strong relationships at all levels in the Nigerian Power Industry, and in particular, BEDC.

‘’NDPL has distinguished itself by being the first success story of the power sector reforms in New Delhi, India under the public private partnership model. It succeeded in reducing ATC&C losses in its licensed area by 80 percent in ten years. The Nigeria power sector reform being carried out mirrors the Delhi Model.’’