Kaduna Electric has disconnected power supply to all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and other facilities in Sokoto and Zamfara state on account of N2.5billion debt.
The electricity firm said it took the stringent action to issue the demand and final disconnection notices to the two state governments when the repeated discussions, reminders and promises by senior officials of the two states were not fulfilled.
The company’s Head, Corporate Communication of the Company, Abdulazeez Abdullahi, disclosed in a statement that Sokoto state government owes outstanding electricity bills of N1,496,313,156,while Zamfara incurs N1,040,506,730 as at December, 2022.
According to him,the development is not only hindering the operations of the company, but is also making it extremely difficult for the firm to discharge its obligations to the electricity market as well as make the needed investment to improve service delivery.
He said:”it is rather sad to note that Zamfara state government has not made any payment for its electricity bills for the past 12 months while its Sokoto state government has defaulted in the last four months”; notwithstanding their accumulated outstanding bills prior to these periods”
“We are obligated to make 100% remittance for cost of energy consumed in our franchise as well as transmission services and failure always attracts severe penalty. This is an obligation we are struggling to meet every month to no avail due to poor, non or irregular payment of bills by our customers”.
He said the disconnection was the last resort for the company,adding that Kaduna Electric would restore power supply to the agencies as soon as they settle their debts
“We confirm our readiness to restore power supply to the facilities of our customers upon appropriate actions on the settlement of outstanding debts and firm commitments on the payment of current electricity bills going forward”