Kano Electricity Distribution Company, KEDCO, has revealed that the incessant collapse of national grid in October has presented it with its worst market performance this year.
BizPoint reports that Nigeria had witnessed incessant collapse of the grid in October, as the situation became worse in Northern Nigeria following the collapse of Shiroro-Kaduna 330kV line due to vandalism.
In a statement signed by Sani Bala Sani, Head, Corporate Communication of KEDCO on Sunday in Kano, the firm disclosed that it recorded 40 percent of Aggregate Technical Commercial & Collection Losses, ATC&C, the worst in the history of the company.
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Sani explained that the ATC&C are losses incurred from non-payment of bills or energy theft or obsoleteness of distribution equipment.
“Regrettably, the incident presented us with our worst market performance this year. Having zero grid supply posed significant financial and economic challenges for KEDCO and its customers, with many customers resorting to costly backup sources or shutting down operations.
“In our best-performing months our ATC&C losses parameter, was sharply down by over 20%, to a record of 40%and we plan to return to those levels,” Sani said.
The company however stated that it is having steady improvement in financial and business performance following the restoration of power supply and energy supply of about 85 percent.
“Recall that KEDCO, alongside three (3) other distribution companies in the North East and North West had significant disruption to power supply in October, with KEDCO being the worst hit.
“KEDCO operations were initially impacted on October 13th, 2024 with only 40% of our grid allocation being supplied after the Shiroro-Kaduna 330kV line incident, further exacerbated by a total blackout on October 20th, 2024, the peak of our revenue collection cycle. Although the power supply was partially restored to a 40% level on 30th October, we were only availed with up to around 85% supply levels on November 14th and anxiously awaiting completion of the Shiroro-Kaduna repairs.
“Thankfully, with the current power supply at around 85%, we have recorded significant collections from last month’s arrears and appealing to our customers to continue to cooperate with us on prompt settlement of their current bills and arrears, for business sustainability,”
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KEDCO therefore commended ‘the resilience of our customers and vow to continue to improve our performance in supplying them with safe and reliable electricity.
“We also thank the Honourable Minister of Power for his timely intervention and visit during the crisis, to understand our challenges. We equally acknowledge TCN’s restoration efforts and appreciate the Federal Government’s commitment to helping improve the redundancy and safety of the National Grid.
It remains our core investor and Board’s resolve to continue to drive investments and improved performance through embedded generation supply options in our network via the Safe Grid and Utility 2.0 projects in collaboration with our tri-state governments, under the guidance of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), it is vital to appeal for our customers’ continued cooperation to actualize that vision,” the company said
KEDCO also appealed to customers to endeavor to pay their bills for the company to be able to serve them with the available energy at its disposal.
