AEDC decries increased vandalism of power infrastructure across franchise area

 

By Innocent Obasi

 

Abuja Electricity Distribution Company Plc (AEDC), one of the eleven downstream operators in the Nigerian electricity market, has said the high frequency of incidents of vandalism to its electrical assets and installations across its franchise area is a serious concern for the company.

AEDC made this disclosure in a statement issued by Donald Etim, the company’s chief marketing officer.

‘‘The surge in cases of vandalism within our franchise area has become quite worrisome, especially so because these vandals lately; increasingly utilize unfathomable methods to perpetrate their criminal acts. This technique upgrade to their evil trade has emboldened the thieves to attack more of urban assets and installations of late, thereby affecting higher customer densities.

Recently, 185 meters of XLPE underground cable was carted away at the Central Business Area, Abuja FCT, valued at over N5 million at just one location out of several others that have been similarly affected across our franchise. The multiplier effect of these damages runs into billions of naira, ’’ Etim said.

He asserted that AEDC will never give up on efforts to ensure that it offers a sufficient, uninterrupted power supply, which is why the company keeps investing in network upgrades, repairing damaged transformers, buying new transformers, and building new feeders and lines to relieve older ones.

 

The company’s chief marketing officer said, “On the Customer side of things we have gone mobile with our metering drive by physically taking meters out to customer cluster locations and getting them metered within 24 hours. There are at least 27 such locations currently operational within our franchise today, excluding our formal offices. We have launched multiple payment channels, including USSD short codes, that allow our customers vend power at zero commission. We have also launched a verify-staff platform that enables customers, for their safety, to quickly verify AEDC visitors to their premises by simply inputting the said staff’s ID card number into a link connected directly to our website. Detailed information on how these innovations work can be found on our AEDC website, kindly visit www.abujaelectricity.com for these and other goodies.”

Additionally, the Management of AEDC has increased its cooperation with security organizations like the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), community leaders, and even recently established a Civilian JTF component as part of efforts to curb the menace of vandalism on its network. These partnerships have led to more frequent security patrols, aggressive community sensitization campaigns, numerous arrests, and prosperous prosecutions. The company is also working toward deploying a remote monitoring system for areas with high incidences of vandalism.