Abia federal hospital decries 400% increment in electricity bill

•State to enact law for power generation

The Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Umuahia, Abia State, has decried the 400 per cent increment in its monthly electricity bill by the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) in April 2024, after the company classified the hospital under ‘Band A’.

Medical Director of the hospital, Prof. Azubuike Onyebuchi, told The Guardian that the federal health institution’s electricity bill was suddenly jacked up from N10 million to N42 million monthly average.

Onyebuchi said that if the 400 per cent increment in electricity bill is added to about N22 million on diesel and maintenance of generators, the cost of procuring power to run the hospital amounts to about N70 million monthly.

He described power as an indispensable basic necessity to run the hospital, which dispenses various healthcare services, including surgeries, pre and post-natal services, laboratory, and intensive patient care, among others.

He wondered why the electricity bill suddenly went up by almost 400 per cent without notice, lamenting that this has impacted the running cost of the 547-bed hospital.

MEANWHILE, the Bill for an Act to empower the Abia State government to generate, transmit and distribute power is fast scaling through the legislative process at the state House of Assembly, the Information Commissioner, Prince Okey Kanu, has said.

Speaking on the proposed power project, the State Public Utilities and Power Commissioner, Ikechukwu Monday, said that the pending bill, when enacted into law, will update the extant Act in 2023 before Governor Alex Otti’s administration.

He disclosed that the expected law became necessary, following the removal of power from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent List; hence, Abia can now enact a law to create an electricity outfit to generate, transmit and distribute power. The Commissioner added that Otti is already poised to set the power project into motion.