• Seeks mobile courts to prosecute vandals
JOS Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC) has spent N2 billion on procurement of new transformers and other infrastructure crucial for effective service delivery.

The Managing Director of JEDC, Mohammed Modibbo, yesterday told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos that part of the money went into purchasing customer metres and the maintenance of other facilities that had broken down.

And worried by the persistent acts of vandalism against its installations, JEDC says it is working with Plateau State Government to set up mobile courts to prosecute suspects.

“Vandalism is a very serious crime we should never treat with levity. Every infrastructure tampered with has a huge effect on customers of that distribution facility,’’ Modibbo said in Jos.

“When we took over JEDC, we found out that most of the transformers were dilapidated; some were more than 50 years old and needed urgent replacement. We had to replace many of them, which improved the capacity of injection sub-stations and improved power distribution,’’ he said.

Modibbo expressed happiness at the steady rise in power generated by the GENCOs, attributing this to “a drastic drop in pipeline vandalism that had raised the capacity of the thermal power generating companies.”

He identified the inaccuracy of data on assets inherited by the new owners of the distribution companies as a major challenge that had constituted a drawback to the quest for speedy progress.

According to him, JEDC will capture new and illegal customers, give them meters and even expand the network. He said that the company would share out 150,000 meters to the four states it was serving – Plateau, Benue, Gombe and Bauchi, in the next five years.

Modibbo also disclosed that 15,000 meters had already been shared to customers in Jos alone. He said that the company had also embarked on aggressive maintenance of its infrastructure “to avoid occasional breakdowns that could impede effective supply.”

He told NAN at the weekend that his company had contacted the state high court and lobbied for a special mobile court that would specifically deal with cases of vandalism and energy theft.

Modibbo, who did not give further details, said that he had also discussed with the police and NSCDC in Plateau on the need to also initiate criminal proceedings against electricity thieves who by-pass electric service meters installed for them.