The Abuja Electricity Development Company (AEDC) has said that the company is operating below the targeted revenue in the Minna area office.
The managing director, Mr Chijoke Okwokenye, supported by the Minna Area Chief Marketing Officer, Sam Odekina, and the chief business officer of the AEDC, Mr Emmanuel Oguche, disclosed this yesterday in Minna at a forum to sensitise the media on the operations of the area office.
They said that the area office was given a target of N3.6 billion but barely made an average of N850 million monthly.
They attributed the poor performance to the unwillingness to pay for energy, even as Odekina said that 6150 new metres had been provided to the consumers in the area, with 8000 metres of installation targeted subsequently.
While emphasising the importance of power to National development, the managing director, Mr Chijoke Okwokenye, said the federal government must prioritise electricity generation and distribution for use by small, medium, and large-scale businesses.
He applauded the steps already taken by the federal government to boost electricity supply and emphasised that consumers must cooperate with the administration for the policies to achieve the goal of stable electricity supply across the country to succeed.
The managing director posited that the electricity sector is a capital intensive sector adding that it can never be run as a social welfare scheme but praised the government for subsidising the sector for the growth of the national economy.
Meanwhile, he said, to ensure a stable electricity supply, the AEDC was also massively investing in solar energy. This would reduce the stress on the grid as the energy saved through the initiative would be used by large-scale industries for massive production.
“We are not disturbed by the adoption of solar energy; it will help stabilise the energy supply in the country.”
