MDA debts, others hamper services – Kaduna Electric

The Chief Compliance and Regulatory Officer of Kaduna Electric, Engr. Lawal Lawal, has listed some challenges hampering the firm’s operations to include delay in bills payment, assault on its staff, and the huge MDA debts.

Engr. Lawal, who spoke at the company’ customer forum in Kaduna, said other challenges include collusion with staff and quacks, and the by-passing of meters by customers.

He said the Distribution company (Disco) covers four states - Kaduna, Sokoto, Zamfara and Kebbi - and is meant to serve over 16 million people with about 2,223 households. However, only 380,000 customers are registered with eight area offices and 143 service centres.

The Team Leader, Customer Service Unit of the firm, Mr Sunday Yahaya, in his presentation, said while the firm had a projected capacity of generating N3.2 billion monthly from customers, it was only able to post an average of N1.2 billion monthly.

He said it was because over 30 per cent of the product, due to technical reasons, was lost in the process of getting it to consumers while more revenue was lost during tariff collection.

The Managing Director, Engr. Garba Haruna charged stakeholders in the electricity industry to live up to their obligations for the downstream sector of the value chain to remain viable and profitable.

He appealed to customers to pay their bills as at when due, noting that it was by doing so that Kaduna Electric would be able to meet its financial obligations to investors, staff and suppliers.