By SUNDAY ABBA, Abuja
MainPower Electricity Distribution Limited (MEDL) has informed its customers in parts of Enugu State who have been experiencing power outages over the past four days that the situation is due to a significant drop in energy allocation from our parent company, Enugu Electricity Distribution Company PLC (EEDC).
According to a statement issued by its management on Monday, MEDL said the development is a result of the recent issuance of a new Tariff Order to MainPower by the EERC.
The Order reduced the tariff for Band A customers from N209.50/kWh to N160.40/kWh.
MEDL said upon receipt of the Tariff Order, it, “by obligation, promptly updated EEDC (its energy supplier). After analysing the implications of the new tariff, EEDC concluded that implementing it would result in a monthly loss of over N1 billion, making it impossible for EEDC to meet her obligations to the Market.
“Consequently, and to mitigate these losses, EEDC made the difficult decision to reduce the volume of energy supplied to MEDL. This has unfortunately resulted in MEDL receiving only about 50% of its usual energy allocation, significantly affecting our ability to serve some of our esteemed customers.
“It is important to clarify that MEDL does not receive electricity directly from National Grid. Instead, we rely solely on EEDC, which holds the vesting contract agreement with the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET), the organization responsible for electricity bulk trading.
“We deeply regret the inconvenience this situation has caused our valued customers. Please be assured that discussions are ongoing with key stakeholders at the state and federal levels (including EEDC, EERC, NERC, NISO, and NBET) to quickly resolve this issue. We are hopeful that a resolution will be reached within the next 48 hours or soon thereafter.
“We also acknowledge that this communication is coming later than expected. The delay was due to the short notice with which we received the full details of the development.
“We appeal for your continued patience, calm, and understanding as we work diligently with the relevant authorities to restore normal service as soon as possible,” the statement read in part.
MainPower as an electricity company is the subsidiary company (SubCo) in charge of power supply in Enugu State following its licensing in October 2024 by EERC to distribute power in the state.
This followed the complete transfer of regulatory oversight to the commission by the NERC.
The National Assembly, in 2023, passed 16 constitutional amendment bills, one of which is the Electricity Act (EA) 2023 that provides for sub-nationals to take charge of power supply within their respective jurisdictions.