Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) on Tuesday in Lokoja urged owners of houses built under its high-tension wires to remove them immediately.
Mr Abimbola Odubiyi, the company’s Executive Director in charge of regulatory affairs, gave the advice during a health and safety sensitisation campaign organised for residents of Lokoja.
Odubiyi said the advice become necessary in view of the increasing cases of deaths and other disasters caused by illegal connections and erection of buildings under high-tension cables.
He also urged the residents to refrain from patronising unlicensed electricians, saying AEDC would not take responsibility for disasters caused by consumers’ illegal actions.
Odubiyi said the company would soon install more transformers in new areas of Lokoja and its environs, and send pre-paid meters to the state to check the menace of “crazy and estimated bills’’.
Mr Collins Chabbukka, the Executive Director, Risk and Compliance, advised electricity consumers to always take safety steps while fixing electrical appliances such as bulbs, plugs.
He advised them to promptly draw the company’s attention to detected faults, as well as avoid having contact with naked wire.
Chabbukka gave the assurance that the company was ready to offer improved services to its clients.
The people called on the company to urgently find a lasting solution to the problems of arbitrary charges and poor power supply.
Mr Ranti Adeagbo, the Chairman of the state chapter of the Federation of Informal Workers, lamented that artisans were being made to pay for electricity not consumed.
He described the situation as unacceptable.
“The giving of arbitrary bills should cease to avoid causing rancour in the society; people should not be exploited for service neither rendered nor consumed,’’ he said.
Mr Stephen Salawu, another member, called for installation of more public transformers in new areas and improvement in power supply to the city.
– (NAN)
