Reps promises to pass bill on electricity theft
CHIGOZIE AMADI
The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation, Hamisu Ibrahim, has pledged the committee’s resolve to work with relevant committees in the House to pass legislation on electricity theft in the country.
Speaking when he led other members of the committee on an oversight visit to the Eko Electricity Distribution Company in Lagos on Monday, Ibrahim decried the rate of electricity theft in the country, saying the legislation would check the abuse.
In a statement by the Head of Public Communications, Bureau of Public Enterprises, Amina Othman, the chairman called for collaboration m between the committee and electricity power companies for effective and efficient power supply in the country.
He noted that such collaborative efforts would give the committee the opportunity to know the challenges facing the power companies, with a view to providing legislative solutions.
The lawmaker maintained that the visit was in line with the legislative functions of the committee to oversee all privatised and concessioned enterprises by the Bureau of Public Enterprises.
He said the committee and the power companies would work closely to fight electricity theft by unpatriotic consumers, adding that the House had already passed a motion for the quick recovery of debts owed by power companies by Ministries, Departments, and Agencies.
A member of the committee, Decour Damnemunene, expressed concern over the categorisation of various customers in Band A, which has resulted in most electricity consumers not paying for the electricity they consume.
Welcoming the members, the acting Managing Director of EKEDC, Mrs R. Momoh noted that the company is the only Disco that had reduced its Aggregate Technical, Commercial, and Collections losses ratio to the bearest minimum despite the challenges in the power sector.
She said the EKEDC had reduced the AtC&C Losses Ratio from 35 per cent in 2023 to 15.1 per cent in 2024.
Momoh added that the company has over 700,000 of its customers metered.
She added that the DisCo is working out modalities in collaboration with the Federal Government Distribution Sector Recovery Programme to procure an additional 92,000 meters for its customers.
The MD stated that the EKEDC had made significant improvements in technology, provision of meters and transformers even as she revealed that the “EKEDC is the only Disco that fulfills its monthly obligations remittance to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading company”.
She said the company was owed N144bn by MDAs in its area of operation and that the Nigerian military, the police, and other state government agencies have refused to pay up their debts, thus posing a challenge for the DisCo.
