59 Feeders Downgraded In Enugu Over Poor Power Supply

Fifty-nine feeders under the franchise of the MainPower Electricity Distribution Company Limited have been downgraded, Enugu Electricity Regulatory Commission announced on Wednesday.

THE WHISTLER reports that MainPower is a subsidiary of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, EEDC, which services customers in Enugu State.

EERC, in a statement, said that the downgrading was sequel to MainPower’s failure to meet the threshold of minimum hours of power availability, especially for Band A customers, despite charging them Band A tariff.

Recall that the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, in November 1, 2020 categorized electricity users into Bands.

The Commission said the downgrade would remain in place until power supply improved on such feeders. It explained that the decision arose following persistent complaints from electricity consumers in Enugu State, particularly Band A customers.

Their complaints were regarding the drastically reduced hours of supply, EERC said, adding that it conducted a technical and safety audit of major injection substations operated by MainPower.

Quoting the statement, “The findings from the Commission’s field inspection and the online monitoring platform corroborated customers’ complaints that MainPower had failed to deliver the expected hours of supply as required under the Service-Based Tariff (SBT) regime.”

It said the SBT framework was introduced to ensure that customers pay for electricity commensurate with the quality and hours of availability of the supply received.

The statement directed MainPower to downgrade all fifty-nine affected feeders, as listed in the Commission’s directive, to their appropriate service bands immediately.

EERC, however, said upon requests by MainPower, it might approve the upgrade of any of the downgraded feeders “once it is verified that the feeder met the threshold of minimum hours of availability in the preceding month in line with the SBT framework”.

Some of the feeders downloaded include 9th Mile Industrial 11KV, downgraded from Band A to Band C; Abakaliki Road 11KV, downgraded from Band A to Band C; Abakpa 1 11KV, downgraded from Band A to Band C; Abakpa 2 11KV, downgraded from Band A to Band C; Abakpa 3 11KV, downgraded from Band B to Band C; Amorji 11KV, downgraded from Band B to Band D; Nsukka Township, from Band B to D; Presidential, from A to C; UNEC from A to D; University of Nigeria Nsukka from A to D and Government House from A to E.

Other affected areas are Emene, Topland, Ugwuoye, Chime Avenue, Achi, Amechi, Ibagwa, Ugwuogo, Ugwuaji, Okwe, NOWAS, Coca Cola, Coal Camp and Dhamija.