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… PHEDC Regrets Impact on Economy, N16.6bn Debt
By Amos Okioma, Yenagoa
Bayelsa State government on Wednesday evening resolved the rift between Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) and Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) which led to power cut since December 23, 2019.
Mr Kenedy Olorogun, chairman, Central Zone of the IYC, who confirmed the development in a telephone interview, said the youths have agreed to vacate the premises of PHEDC.
He said that the peace talks brokered by the secretary to Bayelsa State Government, Mr Kemela Okara, paved way for an understanding with the youths who had forcefully shut down operations of the DISCO in protest over power supply and estimated billing.
“We have suspended our protest at the instance of the Bayelsa government, there is a commitment from the government to prevail on PHEDC to restore normalcy within 48 hours.
“We have shifted grounds and the onus is on government to ensure that they live up to expectation. We took this approach to make it clear that the status quo is no longer acceptable.
“If they fail, then we shall be left with no option than to advocate the revocation of their operating license to create an opportunity for a competent operator to take over the area.
“Our demand is simple, give us electricity and we pay for it, we cannot continue to pay when there is no light,” Olorogun said.
Mr John Onyi, manager Corporate Communications, PHEDC also confirmed the development in a telephone chat and assured that power supply would be restored immediately it is safe to do so.
“The IYC has vacated our premises and as we speak, we are working to restore supply immediately, but our engineers are doing the necessary checks to ensure that the feeders are in order and the network stable to deliver power.
“The intervention of the secretary to state government was very instrumental to resolving the conflict and we held very frank discussions and we are committed to resuming services to our teeming customers in Bayelsa,” Onyi said.
The electricity outage occasioned by the face-off between the IYC and PHEDC had entered the 16th day causing anguish to residents, and paralyzing economic activities.
Fact-check however showed that TCN had sanctioned the PHEDC for declining to take up available power from TCN’s Yenagoa substation to end users leaving power ‘stranded’.
“On August 20, 2019, TCN announced the lifting of a suspension order from the electricity market it placed on the PHEDC on July 27, for breach of ‘Market Conditions/Participation Agreement.
According to a notice available on TCN’s portal, the lifting of the sanction was a regulatory measure to ensure that distribution companies evacuate available power.
TCN said that lifting of the sanction followed PHEDC’s compliance, and took effect on August 19, 2019.
The PHEDC and TCN had been shifting blames on the poor power supply in Bayelsa, with TCN saying that the PHEDC was unable to take up available power at its substation, while the PHEDC alleged that it was not getting enough power from the TCN’s grid.
Meanwhile, the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) has decried the power outage in Bayelsa since December 23, 2019 and its adverse impact on economic activities.
The IYC, on December 23, 2019 besieged the offices of the PHEDC and forced the staff to shut down operations, occupying the premises to protest perceived poor power supply to residents.
The development, which resulted in a total power outage in Yenagoa and its environs, as well as Ahoada in Rivers, had made the residents to rely wholly on power generators with resultant increase in petrol demand and cost of living.
Mr John Onyi, PHEDC spokesman in a statement on Monday, before the Bayelsa State government brokered a truce between the company and the IYC, said that the N16.6 billion debt owed by customers of the power distribution company was hampering its operational capacity to render services on a commercial basis.
“An updated record, as at December 2019 now stands at N16, 620,458,203.12. A breakdown of the figure showed that PHED inherited N5, 982,746,640.74 from the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, on 31st October 2013 while the balance of N10, 637,711,562.38 was from November 1, 2013 till December 2019.
“Residential customers had N13, 478,505,726.34 while state ministries, department and agencies, MDAs, Yenagoa had N2,558,660,414.34 while Federal MDAs owe an outstanding of N91,558,680.76.
“Private Maximum Demand and Commercial Maximum Demand customers owe the PHEDC N388,779, 285.35 and N102,954,096.33 respectively,” Onyi said.
According to the PHEDC spokesman, the average electricity monthly billing in Yenagoa based on the allocation from the national grid is about N159, 253,559.42 out of which PHEDC receives an average payment of N27, 523,737.25.
He said that with a customer base of 21,453 only 3,555 customers representing 17 percent are the ones paying their electricity bill on monthly basis, a development that is adversely affecting the viability of the firm.