Kaduna Electric has reached agreement with leaders of four communities under its Rigasa area office on the minimum threshold for their monthly bills’ payment, while the company will prioritise power supply to the communities.
Area Manager of the Rigasa office of the company, Malam Musa Usman, disclosed this in a statement while speaking on the outcome of the recent town hall meetings and agreements reached between the Company and leaders of Kinkinau, Government House Feeder, Hayin Danmani and Rigasa within Kaduna metropolis.
Malam Musa disclosed that the parties agreed that “henceforth, all electricity users in the areas shall pay their monthly current charges and a fraction of their outstanding where applicable.
“Three of the communities were until recently placed on the Company’s priority feeders, the green feeders but were later downgraded to red feeders, the least priority feeders due to the customers’ poor response to payment of monthly electricity bills.”
He lamented the decline in revenue being realised which, he said, was less than 30 percent of the cost of the electricity supplied, hence, the decision to review the earlier priority given to the communities.
“We cannot afford to fold our arms and watch the Company defaulting in its obligations to the market; the experience in some Discos where the Market Operator suspended some operators from the electricity market due to default should not be allowed to happen to us here.”
It will be recalled that there was an air of uneasiness in the four areas lately due to drastic reduction in the number of hours of power supply.
A community leader from Kinkinau, who preferred to remain anonymous, said the discussions and agreement with Kaduna Electric was fruitful and the parties have expressed commitment to work together in addressing concerns raised by all parties.
Musa confirmed that the agreement is yielding positive results as response from the customers has improved.
