Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) has cleared the air what it paid as penalty in its bid to satisfy its customers.
Refuting the earlier media report carried by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoting the executive director, regulatory and stakeholders relations of the AEDC, Engr. Abimbola Odubiyi, as saying the company had incurred extra charge of N80 billion as penalty charge, the company clarified that the amount was actually N8 billion.
Making the clarification, the Head, Public Relations and Media, AEDC, Mr Ahmed Shekarau, said N8 billion was incurred over the period of 18 months in its quest to meet the demands of its customers for electricity supply.
The News Agency of Nigeria had reported the executive director, regulatory and stakeholders relations of the AEDC, Engr. Abimbola Odubiyi, as putting the extra cost incurred at N80 billion.
But Mr. Shekarau explained that company incurred the extra cost of the N8 billion as a result of by taking electricity beyond the 11.5 percent allocated to it from the national grid to satisfy the electricity needs of its customers.
He said it was the 1.5 percent extra electricity it took that resulted in the payment of the extra N8 billion referred to as “imbalance penalty.”
He argued the company had the capacity to distribute to take in and 1,000 megawatts as against the less than 400 megawatts allocated to it from the national grid.
He said: “AEDC has had to pay imbalance penalties to the tune of N8 billion, not N80 billion as reported by the News Agency of Nigeria, from November 1, 2013, when the current management took over to date.’’