Disco blames load rejection on underpayments by customers

The acting Managing Director/CEO of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, Chijioke Okuwuokenye, has stated that the burgeoning debts and electricity overloading are some of the reasons why power distribution companies reject electricity from the national grid despite blackouts in many communities.

He stated that the problem is worsened by the prevailing culture in Nigeria, where many people do not see the need to pay for electricity.

The MD, represented by the Chief Operating Officer of AEDC, Mr Olumide Jerome, said this during a question and answer session at the just-concluded fourth Power Correspondent Association of Nigeria’s annual workshop, themed “Ending the Talk, Moving the Action.”

He was responding to the notion that electricity load rejection was one of the reasons for the incessant collapse of the national grid.

The AEDC boss stated that there are communities where no matter how much electricity is given to them, what they often pay is N2,000.

He also affirmed the need for a public orientation on the value chain of the power sector.

He said, “These debts are coming from the value chain. If we don’t collect the money from our customers, we cannot meet our market obligations, and then the gencos also have a deficit in their payments.

“If you like, you give them band A. If you like, you give them 25 hours out of 24. They will tell you that they did not send you a message and that it is only N2,000 that they can pay you.

“In cases like that, because we’re a private company and we’re in the business to make revenue so that we can meet our market and financial obligations, it does not make any business sense to give that type of neighbourhood power. Hence, sometimes they complain and then say that we are rejecting the load.”

He said another issue is overloading on transformers.

“You have transformers that were installed with only three houses. Now you have 15 houses on the transformer, using the same transformer. So sometimes, we have this incessant breakdown of the transformers, and when these transformers break down, we have to divert. You can’t store electricity, so you have to divert the load to another feeder for some other customers.

And I think that’s where sometimes you realize that some people are rejecting loads.

“While some, on the transformer alone, you find that they are owing N63m and we tell them that you are owing us money and you want us to fix the transformer, they will go out and contribute money in the community to give us as part of the payment of that debt. Out of the N63m, they will contribute N574,000. These are some of the issues that we face with our customers and some of the reasons we have to reject load.”

Speaking on efforts to increase power accessibility, the MD revealed that the company has installed 70,000 prepaid meters for customers within its franchise area in 2024.