How we were forced to disconnect govt offices in Sokoto, Zamfara – Kaduna Electric

 

The Management of Kaduna Electric has said it was forced to disconnect power supply to all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and other facilities belonging to Sokoto and Zamfara State Governments after the two states were issued demand as well as Final Disconnection Notices by the Company three weeks ago.

A statement signed by the Head, Corporate Communication of the Company, Abdulazeez Abdullahi, said Sokoto State Government is owing outstanding electricity bills of N1,496,313,156 with Zamfara owing N1,040,506,730 as at December, 2022.

While saying “disconnection is a last resort for us and Kaduna Electric is pained to embark on this course of action”, he noted that the ugly development of unpaid debts is not only hindering the operations of the Company, but is also making it extremely difficult for Kaduna Electric to discharge its obligations to the electricity market as well as make the needed investment to improve service delivery.

According to him, “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.

The statement further disclosed that Kaduna Electric took the decision 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 never fulfilled.

“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.

“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,” he said.