Edo Assembly Summons BEDC, TCN over Persistent Power Outage

The Edo State House of Assembly has issued a summon to the heads of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), demanding an explanation for the persistent power outages plaguing the state.

This action follows a pressing public concern brought forth by a member of the assembly, who highlighted the severe impact of the unreliable power supply on local businesses. The member criticized BEDC’s inability to deliver consistent electricity, noting that the situation has forced entrepreneurs to seek alternative energy solutions.

The summons was issued in response to Hon. Kaycee Osamwonyi (PDP Uhunwode) bringing up a pressing public concern regarding the state’s persistent power outages.

In introducing the motion during plenary, Hon. Osamwonyi claimed that the state’s persistent power outages have forced business owners to look for other sources of energy in order to run their operations, making the BEDC incapable of providing electricity to the state’s citizens.

“The state’s persistent power outage has crippled economic activities, resulting in untold hardship on business owners,” Hon. Osamwonyi stated.

He continued, “In certain communities, transformers are provided by politicians and private citizens, yet consumers are always given huge bills for electricity not supplied

“While this unsightly incident affects businesses and throws the state into complete darkness that encourages criminality, others complain about excessive estimated billing.

“Prepaid meters are no longer distributed to customers, so he claimed that BEDC’s method of centralizing prepaid meters—which requires some customers in some communities to pay a set amount of money into a designated community account name—was a common tactic used by BEDC to take advantage of and underpay customers in the state for services that were never provided.”

During his speech, Hon. Emankhu Addeh stated that states in the country would not require the services provided by running discos like BEDC if they fully benefited from the liberalization of the power sector.

Hon. Addeh, who further explained that electricity supply is a direct function of generation, argued that both the electricity generating companies and the distribution company must appear before the House to explain why Edo residents can not have access to electricity but are made to pay for total blackout.

On his part, Hon. Okogbe stated that the BEDC lacked the knowledge and experience necessary to supply electricity in Edo State and that it is now essential for the federal government to review BEDC’s operating licenses in order to permit independent power supply companies to supply electricity to the state’s residents.

After lengthy discussions regarding BEDC’s epileptic power supply to Edo State consumers, the House called a meeting with the management of BEDC and TCN to be held on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, at 10:00 a.m.