Sokoto State Government has called on management of Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission and Kaduna Electric Company (KAEDCO), to improve their service delivery before demanding more money from customers.
The state Commissioner for Energy and Petroleum Resources, Honourable Sanusi Ibrahim, stated this in Sokoto on Thursday during the Customer Complaints Resolution Meeting held at Sokoto Guest Inn.
The Commissioner while making his remarks lamented that residents of the state cannot continue to pay for darkness instead of light.
According to him, “While I commend you for organizing this kind of meeting, I need to remind you that you can only get more money from the people once your service improves.
“Both NERC and KAEDCO, all that you are concerned about here is how to get more money, but you are not improving on the service to our people.
“In the Eastern senatorial district of the state, for about nine years now, no electricity supply to some of the local governments in the area, and KAEDCO is not doing anything to correct.
“The state government has just spent about 1.5 Billion naira to replace some of the vandalised items in the zone which includes transformers, poles, and wire among others, only for KAEDCO to start collecting money from such customers when the process is completed.
“All what you are discussing here since I came around is how to make more money, how to distribute more meters but not on how to improve on services being rendered to the people”
He called on the management of KAEDCO to organize more such engagements to enable more consumer meetings to enlighten customers about their rights and why they should pay their bills.
Responding on behalf of KAEDCO, the representative of the Managing Director of the company, Ahmed Sanusi, said the company is working tirelessly to improve the electricity supply in the state.
He said the recent dip in the supply of electricity in the state was a result of fire incidents and vandalism that affected the cable from Kebbi State.
He, however, assured that the company is working round the clock to improve the electricity supply to the state and give the residents of the state value for their money.
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