From Dennis Mernyi, Abuja
The management of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) has explained that the load shedding being experienced in its franchise area was as a result of the drop in load allocated to it by the system operator.
The nation’s total electricity generation recorded huge drop since last week from over 5000 megawatts to below 2500 megawatts. The company’s explanation through Ahmed Shekarau is coming on the heels of the recent drop in power supply to its customers in its area of operation, which include the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Kogi, Nasarawa and Niger states.
The AEDC said in a statement yesterday in Abuja that with the recent drop in electricity generation occasioned by shortage in gas to the power plants, the quantum of energy made available to it from the national grid fell far short of what it had been receiving a few months ago.
The company stressed that when there is limited power available to it, load shedding to its customers in the FCT as well as other states in the company’s franchise area become inevitable.
It, however, appealed for the understanding of its customers over the recent developments, assuring that it had never failed to distribute the load allocated to it by the system operator since November 2013 when the current management took over the company.
The AEDC explained further that it had taken load in excess of its allocation every month in order to meet customers’ demand. “When there is extra load in the system, we have always taken it in order to ensure that we meet the demands of our customers,” the AEDC management stressed.
Reiterating its appeal to customers, the company assured that it would continue to optimise its load shedding to ensure that all its customers are given fair consideration in the distribution of energy allocated to it.