The Emir of Gwandu and Chairman, Kebbi State Council of Chiefs, Alhaji Muhammadu Iliyasu Bashar, has charged District and Ward Heads in the Emirate to ensure that their subjects pay their electricity bills as at when due.
The first class traditional ruler made the call in Birnin Kebbi yesterday when the Management of Kaduna Electric, Kebbi Regional Office held a sensitization engagement with all the District and Ward Heads as well as all traditional title holders of Gwandu Emirate at the Emir’s palace.
A press statement by the Head, Corporate Communications of Kaduna Electric, Abdulazeez Abdullahi, disclosed that the Emir of Gwandu who was
represented at the event by the Sardaunan Gwandu, Alhaji Yusuf Haruna Rasheed, called on the local traditional authorities to support the
current drive for sustainable energy security and warned that “any community that fails to settle its electricity bills would be disconnected by the Electricity Distribution Company”.
The Sardaunan Gwandu who is also the Special Adviser to Kebbi State Governor on Power explained to the traditional rulers the workings of the Nigerian Electricity Supply
Industry, the inter-dependent relationship of all the actors in the electricity value chain and the imperative of regular payment of bills by the electricity consuming public.
“Electricity generation and distribution is no longer being handled by the government, it is now being driven by the private entrepreneurs and if we want steady and qualitative service, we must pay our bills
regularly.
The State Government has provided the enabling environment and necessary support to ensure power supply in the state round the
clock, you should therefore educate your subjects on the importance of regular
payment of bills,” he said.
Earlier, the Commercial Manager, Malam Musa Yusuf, who stood in for the Business Development and Regional Officer disclosed that the Company supplied electricity worth N742m to its customers in Kebbi State in the month of October, 2018 but the Company was only able to generate N274m in the month of November, less than 40% of the cost of energy supply in the preceding month.
He disclosed that “the Company cannot pay for the energy supplied to it by the generation companies if such high rate of default is being recorded”.
He announced that “the average daily power supply in the
State is 20 hours and this can only be sustained if there is urgent attitudinal change among the populace towards payment of bills”.
He also decried the rate of energy theft, meter bypass as well as illegal reconnection and appealed to the traditional rulers to educate their subjects on energy efficiency.
“We must imbibe energy conservation culture by putting off bulbs and other appliances not needed; this will enable us save our hard-earned money and relief the power supply infrastructure,” he said.
The sensitization campaign afforded the Company the opportunity to educate the traditional rulers on the challenges facing the power sector and the paradigm shift in the sector from a public sector to a private sector
driven industry.