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The Federal Government has banned the procurement of transformers by electricity consumers, maintaining that it remains the duty of distribution companies (Discos).
Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, made the disclosure during a meeting with officials of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (ANED).
He conveyed government’s readiness to offset the electricity bills owed by ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) put at N97 billion by the Discos. He however, noted that a careful verification of the debts was being carried out to ascertain the exact amount, considering that the sum stretches to several years.
Fayose also charged operators in the nation’s power sector to improve investments in order to upgrade their networks.
He said: “You must continue to make distribution asset investments. Private purchase of transformers should stop. That is the responsibility of the distribution companies. We still have cases of people buying transformers themselves. This should not be the case.”
Fashola charged the operators to improve customer relationship as well as close the metering gap and educate consumers on energy conservation.
“Since the distribution companies are now owned by private enterprises, you need to make it easy for people to reach you. Let us all understand that the problems we have are not technical. They are manmade,” he noted.