The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) says the current power outage in Imo, a fallout of a strike action by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is beyond its control.
The EEDC’s Head of Corporate Communications, Mr Emeka Ezeh, made the disclosure in statement issued in Owerri on Thursday.
Organised labour in Imo State shut down Egbu Transmission Station, which is EEDC’s source of electricity supply, thereby leaving it with no energy to distribute to its customers, a development that has left the whole of Imo in blackout.
Ezeh described the situation as unfortunate and explained that with EEDC’s source of power which is at Egbu Transmission Station shut down by the Labour Union, there was no way the company could get power to distribute to its customers in Imo.
“We can only distribute the power that we receive from stations operated by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and in this case, the station catering for our customers in Imo has been shut down by the Labour Union,” he said.
He sympathised with the company’s customers in Imo over the inconveniences the development had caused them and expressed hope that the parties involved would resolve their differences for normalcy to return to the state.
He also said that the company was handicapped, losing revenue running into millions of Naira, and could not do much in the present circumstance.
“As a Distribution Company, our primary source of supply is from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) Stations, and once there is disruption in the chain, we won’t be able to deliver service to our customers,” he said.
Ezeh allayed the fears of customers who were concerned that they might be billed for the period they were out of supply, emphasizing that “the company does not bill for service not rendered.
“The impact of the power outage currently experienced will reflect on the December bill, which will be for energy consumed in the month of November.
“Whereas the November bill, which is for energy that has been consumed in the month of October, has to be paid for by the customers, as it has no relation with the current power situation being experienced,” he said.
He, however, urged customers to remain vigilant and ensure that the transformer and other electricity infrastructure serving them are protected, as vandals might want to take advantage of the outage to attack the equipment.
