The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) has apologised to consumers in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and around the Middle Belt region over longer than normal power blackouts. The DisCo cited the ongoing strike by its employees as the cause of the blackout.
This was disclosed by Mr Oyebode Fadipe, AEDC’s General Manager, Corporate Communication, in Abuja on Monday, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.
The affected power distribution franchise areas include Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger states and the FCT.
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What AEDC is saying
Mr Oyebode Fadipe said, “Following the industrial action embarked upon by the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), power supply to some of our areas of operation, especially those on the 11 Kilovolt network, were affected.
“We would also like to apologise to our customers for the inconvenience and disruption.
“We assure our customers that all hands are on deck to resolve the issues that prompted this action.
The company also stated that it is committed to a speedy resolution of the strike by its employees that led to the power disruption.
Meanwhile, NAN also reports that the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) stated that it had enough bulk power to deliver to AEDC to off-take and distribute to its customers.
Read: Lagos moves to deliver 20 hours of power to residents with 50 megawatts of electricity
General Manager, Public Affairs, Mrs Ndidi Mbah blamed the power outage being experienced in AEDC’s franchise area on a shutdown of AEDC’s facilities by its in-house workers’ union.
“The areas under AEDC franchise include Abuja, Nasarawa, Kogi, parts of Edo, Niger and Kaduna States.
“TCN regrets this disruption and assures Nigerians that normal bulk power delivery to AEDC will be restored as soon as the injection substations are opened for onward electricity supply to consumers,’’ she stated.
The National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), said the strike resulted from pensions contributions deducted from workers’ salaries for 20 months but not remitted to their Pension Fund Administrators.