Enugu Electricity calls for more support from customers

Enugu Electricity Distribution Plc (EEDC) has called for more support and partnership from its customers in 2019.

The call was contained in a release issued by its Head of Communications, Emeka Ezeh during the week.

Ezeh expressed appreciation to customers for their support, understanding and overall partnership with the company in the course of the year, despite the numerous challenges that adversely impacted on the quality of service delivery to customers.

Some of the recurring challenges which the company grappled with are: vandalism, energy theft, accidental destruction of power facilities, meter bypass, illegal connections and reconnections.

Others include: non-payment of electricity bills, attack on EEDC field officers and illegal tampering with electrical installations which interfere with the network and in most cases lead to destruction of electrical facilities.

Following series of engagements with customers, EEDC identified areas of focus and mapped out strategic plans to address them; such as upgrade of some transformers and relieving overloaded ones; installation of entirely new substations; overhauling some weak networks for quality electricity supply.

There are also plans to deload some feeders and construct more injection substations to boost electricity supply in identified locations within the network.

“As a matter of fact, contract has been awarded for the construction of a 7.5MVA Injection Substation at ABS, Awka, which will cater for customers within ABS environs, Okpuno, Enugu Agidi, Awka Urban, Zik Avenue and parts of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka.”

Also approved was the upgrade of Agu Awka Injection Substation from 7.5MVA to 15MVA. Order has been placed for the power transformer which is expected to be delivered hopefully before the end of the month. This will improve supply to customers at Agu Awka, industrial Area, Amansea, Nkwere Awka, Ifite Awka, Nnamdi Azikiwe University permanent site and its environs.

The management of the company has equally engaged the services of some private contractors to facilitate repair of faulty transformers, thereby shortening the downtime periods experienced in the network.

Ezeh equally said that the asset registration and customer enumeration exercise was still ongoing and appealed for maximum cooperation with enumerators, as the exercise is aimed at making EEDC more efficient in providing quality service to customers.