The Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) has vowed not to supply power to the residents of some communities in Odo-Eran until they have offset all the contentious outstanding bills which accumulated over the years.
The message was conveyed by the staff of Ijeshatedo Undertaking and Mushin Business Unit of the EKEDC to the distraught consumers who had endured darkness since April 2024.
The disco handed dawn the option after it repaired and installed a faulty power transformer which supplies electricity to Jacob Adeleye Street, Olorogun Street, Trepower Avenue and the adjoining shacks, the popular Odo-Eran Market and the makeshift shops under the Cele Bridge on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway.
It was gathered that the users of the transformer had lived in darkness for close to seven months.
NewsGazette learnt that the transformer had developed a fault toward the tail end of April 2024 but the distribution company did not attend to it until the middle of August after the residents had sent a petition to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in Abuja.
To avoid a NERC sanction, EKEDC was said to have hurriedly coupled a completely knocked down (CKD) transformer and installed it at Jacob Adeleye junction, near Odo-Eran market.
According to the residents power was supplied to the affected areas in early September but it was short-lived as the equipment packed up again before the end of that month.
The executives of the community development associations of the affected area took up the matter with the EKEDC management in Marina.
According to the residents, the management of the distribution company pleaded with them not to report the matter to the NERC for fear of a sanction.
“Following our petition, NERC had specifically told EKEDC to replace the faulty transformer with a new one. The DisCo did not comply. When they brought a transformer, we knew it was not a new one; they only painted it to look new.
“When the transformer spoilt for the second time in September, we reported to the EKEDC in Marina. They begged us not to take it up with the NERC again and promised to make amends.
“They actually came and evacuated the CKD transformer and brought another one in October. After installing it, we were waiting for the light to come on to no avail.
“When we asked why power supply was not restored, EKEDC insisted that all the customers on the transformer must pay all the arrears up to the third week of April and the period in September when electricity was supplied to the affected consumers or we should forget about having power supply,” one of the CDA executives told NewsGazette.
As of the time of filing this report, the EKEDC was yet to comment on the matter.
Its spokesman, Mr Babatunde Lasaki did not respond to the whatsapp message sent to him.
Recall that in 2021, the communities lived in darkness for many weeks due to a disagreement between them and EKEDC over the status of a new 550kva transformer
It was learnt that some technical personnel from the Ijeshatedo Undertaking had on Monday September 27 attempted to remove the transformer but after sensing the mood of the people, the distribution company resorted to disconnecting the transformer from a feeder pole and plunged the residents into darkness.
It was gathered that at Ijeshatedo Undertaking, had in his handover note stated that the transformer was not the property of the communities but that “Marina borrowed the transformer to the residents.”
It followed a failed attempt to remove the transformer on Thursday, August 19, 2021.
