By Stanley Nwanosike
The management of Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) says the company is not responsible for the prolonged electricity power outage in Imo.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the state had been without electricity for about two weeks, following the recent attack on the President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr Joe Ajaero, during his intervention in the labour matter in the state.
The Head, Corporate Communications of EEDC, Mr Emeka Ezeh, in a statement on Tuesday in Enugu said that its customers should totally disregard “any misleading publication as EEDC is not responsible for the prolonged power outage.”
“Our attention has been drawn to a publication making the rounds on the social media, initiated by some mischief makers who have chosen to take advantage of the loss of power supply in Imo State caused by the industrial action to misinform our customers.
“They are trying to incite our customers against our organisation.
“For the benefit of our esteemed customers affected by this unfortunate situation, we wish to set the records in proper perspective,” he said.
Eze further stated that in the early hours of Nov. 1, EEDC’s source of supply at Egbu Transmission Station was shut down by labour following the industrial action, occasioned by the face-off between the union and the state government.
“As a result of this development, all the feeders serving our customers in the state were out of supply, thereby crippling our operations and leaving us helpless.
“It is important to note that EEDC only distributes the electricity it receives from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
“Our performance as a distribution company is dependent on other members of the electricity value chain (that is, the generation company and TCN,” he said.
The EEDC spokesman further stated that with its source of power at Egbu TCN shut down, there was no way the company could get power to serve its customers in the state.
This, according to him, has impacted heavily on the company’s revenue and service to its customers.
Ezeh noted that as a matter of responsibility, EEDC immediately notified its customers and deployed several communications across various media channels, explaining the situation and its position in all of these.
He said that the company was mindful of the inconveniences this prolonged situation had caused its customers in the state.
The EEDC spokesperson expressed the hope that the issue would be resolved so that normalcy could return to the state.
“We urge our customers to remain vigilant and ensure that the electricity infrastructure serving them are protected, as vandals might take advantage of the outage to attack these equipment.
“We empathise with our esteemed customers in Imo State and assure them of our continued commitment to ensuring that we provide them with quality service,” he said. (NAN)
