The management of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) Plc, on Friday, linked power outage in its franchise states of Edo, Delta, Ondo and Ekiti to low generation of power by the power generating companies (Gencos).

The chief technical officer (CTO), BEDC, Jonathan Lawani, while giving an overview of BEDC operations at a media parley in Benin, said the power problem currently being experienced in the state was not peculiar to BEDC alone but affecting all Discos.

Mr Lawani stated that Nigeria was heavily dependent on gas for power generation, adding that the gas suppliers had refused to supply gas to generating companies because they had yet to settle their outstanding debts.

“Gas suppliers are saying Gencos are owing, Gencos are saying TCN is owing, TCN is saying Discos are owing and Discos are saying that customers are not paying their bills.

“So if power supply must improve, customers have a role to play by paying for electricity consumed through BEDC accredited billing agents,” he said.

He also attributed the non-availability of power to the increased energy theft and vandalism currently ongoing in its network.

He disclosed that out of every 10 metres installed, six were tempered with either at the point of installation or after installation resulting in loss of revenue.

“This is a major problem in all the Discos, not only in BEDC. And you will agree with us that we need this revenue to purchase energy for distribution.

“We are working with the various state governments where we operate to come up with regulations to curb the menace,” he added.

Speaking further, he said the minister of power was working round the clock to resolve the low generation problem, adding that BEDC had resulted in load shedding of the power allocated to it.

According to him, BEDC has concluded the upgrade of its network and now has over 75 33KVA voltage lines covering over 5,000Km in terms of length and over 3,022 11KVA feeders that provide service to customers.

He noted that with the upgrade, “BEDC now has more capacity to take power when power generation improves.”

The CTO appealed to the media to join in the fight against vandals, adding that the company records more than 10 cases of vandalism on a daily basis.

He called on the various communities across BEDC operational areas to take responsibility for the network lines in their domains.

(NAN)