Abuja- Mr Neil Croucher, the Managing Director of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company ( AEDC said the company was exploring other sources of power such as solar to augment power supply from the national grid.
Croucher told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) ), on Tuesday in Abuja that the shortage of gas in the country was contributing partly to the epileptic power supply.
“We, as a Disco, are aggressively exploring methods of embedded generation within our network coverage area to augment power supply from the national grid.
“We are, however, confident that government’s transformation plans will increase the level of generation to meet the needs of customers,” he said.
According to him, power supply will further improve after the review of tariff to make electricity distribution cost reflective.
“The regulator (the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission) has acknowledged that, and is in the process of reviewing the tariff to make it cost-reflective,” he said.
Croucher said that in the last 12 months, the company had installed more than 150 transformers at the cost of over N200 million.
He said that to ensure quality service delivery the company had carried out repair work on its network covering 133,000 square kilometres in the FCT, Kogi, Nasarawa and Niger.
“We are currently implementing best practices with respect to preventative maintenance and managing of the company’s assets,” he said.
He said that in line with the Credited Advance Payment for Metering Implementation (CAPMI) scheme, the company had been providing 3,000 prepayment meters to its customers monthly.
“At AEDC we recognise the right of every customer to be metered and it is our intention to get to that point.
“We are in the process of publishing adverts and media announcements urging customers who have paid but have yet to be metered to come forward with evidence of payment for installation,” he said.
He said that the roll out of 100,000 prepayment meters would begin after the declaration of the Transition Electricity Market (TEM) by the minister of power.
The managing director said upgrading work on vending and billing systems preparatory to the roll out of 100,000 prepayments had been concluded.
He urged customers interested in participating in the CAPMI scheme to come forward with their payments for the installation of meters in their homes and offices. (NAN)
