Easter: Consumers groan over epileptic electricity supply in FCT suburbs
Some electricity customers in satellite towns of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have decried the epileptic supply by the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) in the area.
The electricity users who spoke with the Newsmen in Abuja on Monday, described the situation as ‘inhuman and insensitive’, especially during the Easter celebration.
Mrs Agnes Agada, a customer at Area B, Nyanya, lamented that electricity supply dropped drastically in the area during the Easter holiday.
Agada said that AEDC did not explain to customers the cause for epileptic power supply in the area, especially during the holidays.
”Throughout this holiday, we did not see light. Even on Easter day that the company is supposed to give us light, we used generator all through.
”I think this is very unfair as it is not in the spirit of Easter,” she said.
Mrs Ada Atuanya, another customer at Jikwoyi, said that she lost some of her perishable food items to the poor electricity supply.
Atuanya appealed to the relevant authorities to address electricity issue to boost supply and businesses.
”I normally buy my food stuff in bulk for the family, especially during celebrations like this.
”The tomatoes, meat and soup that I made this season almost got soured because there is no light.
”My generator has issues and it can not power the refrigerator.
”Also, the weather this days is so hot that you will need light to power your air conditioner,” she said.
Also, an ice block dealer, Mr Idris Atoh, said the electricity situation had affected his business negatively.
Atoh said he halted operation of his business for some time because he could not meet up with the high cost of diesel purchased daily to power the generators.
”Before now, I made a lot of money daily from my ice block business but since AEDC started the poor supply of power, it has not been easy for me.
”At a point, I decided to stop for sometime until the situation improves because the amount of money we use in buying gas and diesel is discouraging,” he said.
Meanwhile, the AEDC on its official Twitter handle on April 2, informed customers of the unstable power supply which it said is caused by insufficient power allocation.
”We will like to inform you that we are aware of the unstable power supply experienced in recent days, essentially caused by insufficient power allocation.
”Due to the limited energy allocation, we have had to implement load curtailment directives across our franchise in order to manage the situation for grid stability.
”We understand that this may cause inconveniences to our customers and we are doing everything we can to ensure that the impact of the outage is minimised.
”We appreciate your understanding during this challenging time,” the AEDC management said.
The management, however, assured customers that it would continue to update them and provide information when necessary.
