KADUNA ELECTRIC NEWSLETTER JULY 3RD EDITION

 

New Chairman Solicits Staff Support as New Investors Resume.

 

The new Chairman of Kaduna Electric, Alhaji Aminu Abubakar Suleiman, has solicited for the maximum cooperation of all staff as a new dawn begins in the Company.

He made this assertion at a brief meeting with the Management team after the formal take over from the NERC appointed Special Board in a ceremony presided over by the NERC Commissioner for Legal, Licensing and Compliance, Mr. Dafe Okpaneye in Kaduna last week.

The Chairman assured that the entire Management team will remain in place and that every member of staff will be given a level playing field to prove his competence. He commended all staff for the good work done so far even as he reminded that a lot more effort needed to be put in to meet the expectations of the new Board.

He said the new Board is eager to go to work and has already constituted the relevant Board Committees which will commence work next week.

In his remark at the meeting, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Umar Hashidu, welcomed the new Board on behalf of all staff. He thanked them for believing in the team by giving them the opportunity to serve, adding that the team will demonstrate its utmost to prove its worth.

 

 

Kaduna Electric Tasks Electricity Users in Birnin Gwari Local Government to Improve Response to Payment of Bills.

 

The Kaduna State Regional Manager of Kaduna Electric, Mrs. Fumilayo King has described the persistent poor commercial performance in Birnin Gwari Local Government of Kaduna State as the bane of service delivery challenges in the Area.

Mrs. King made the observation on Monday when she granted audience to the Member representing Birnin Gwari Local Government in Kaduna State House of Assembly, Hon. Shehu Abubakar who stood in for the Chairman of the Local Government in her office.

 

She described the response of electricity users in the Area to payment of electricity bills as "abysmal", saying that only 11% of the cost of energy delivered to Birnin Gwari Local Government is being realized whilst the adjoining rural communities are virtually paying nothing.

According to Mrs. King, "the major challenge the Company is facing in Birnin Gwari Local Government is our inability to collect even 20% of what is given to both the Birnin Gwari Township 11KV feeder and the 33KV Tee-offs that serve the rural communities".

"The average monthly billing of the 11KV Township Feeder is about 8 million naira and the total outstanding as at the end of last month stood at over 900 million naira with only 11% response rate while only about 2% of the cost of energy being delivered to the 33KV Tee-offs is realized monthly", she said.

She called on stakeholders, including political, traditional and religious leaders in the Local Government to educate and sensitize electricity users on the importance of prompt and timely payment of electricity bills as this is the only panacea to the challenge the Company is facing in the Area.

"11% and 2% response rates cannot guarantee any sustainable improvement. The bed the Company can do in the present circumstances is to place the Local Government on Band E tariff which only allows for four hours of supply daily", she said.

In his response, Hon. Shehu Abubakar, whose mission was to seek more power supply allocation to the Local Government, promised to immediately convey a meeting of all critical Stakeholders in the Local Government where the issue shall be discussed and revert back to the Company in due course.

Both parties agreed to work together for the needed improvement in customers' response as well as service delivery.