By Adedapo Adesanya
Residents of Lagos will have to contend with erratic power supply as ongoing maintenance in the Egbin Power Station is causing massive load shedding.
For customers of Eko Electric Distribution Company (EKEDC) and Ikeja Electric Distribution Company (IKEDC), this development was noticed on Monday.
Confirming the development on Tuesday, EKEDC on its X, formerly known as Twitter, said, “The reduction in power supply is due to the ongoing maintenance of Nigeria Gas Company’s (NGC) gas pipeline supplying the Egbin Power Station.”
The disco added that, “The maintenance, which will last for three days, has resulted in reduced allocation from the grid causing massive load shedding across our network.”
It called for calm during the duration of the infrastructure maintenance.
“We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience this has caused. Kindly bear with us.”
The development has led to a slowdown in activities and comes at a crucial festive season when businesses need power for their operations.
With the high cost of petrol and diesel already putting weight on economic activities, the inconvenience will further heighten the pressure on commercial activities in the state.
Business Post also gathered that cash scarcity in banking halls and ATMs has led to a 100 per cent increase in service charges at Point of Sale (POS)/Agency banking channels.
Speaking to this newspaper, a POS operator identified as Kolade in the Egbeda area of Lagos said, “There is no cash anywhere, so we have to double the price we charge for money. Those paying N100 are now N200, N200 is now N400, and so on. They will have to bear with us, it is not easy for us as well.”
As for the poor power supply, a resident of Egbeda, Lagos, who identified himself as Mr Gbenga Kolade, said the situation has been frustrating for him and others.
“Since yesterday (Monday), the power supply has not been stable. We did not enjoy an electricity supply for more than four hours. This morning, we have only had light (sic) for just two hours. The annoying part is that Ikeja Electric has not deemed it necessary to explain to us the reason for this poor power supply.
“For prepaid meter users like myself, we were charged for Band B at 14 to 16 hours per day of electricity at N65 per unit, but we do not get a power supply for what we were charged and there is no punishment for breaching our deal by the discos,” Mr Kolade told Business Post.
Modupe Gbadeyanka