This was made known in a press statement issued by the Head of Corporate Communications, EEDC, Emeka Ezeh, on Thursday, while empathising with its customers in the state.
EEDC supplies electricity to all the South-East states, including Imo.
Ezeh said the power outage in Imo, which has now lingered for nine days is unfortunate.
He explained that with EEDC’s transmission station at Egbu shut down by the Labour Union, there was no way the company could get power to distribute to its customers in Imo State.
The EEDC spokesman stressed that the company is handicapped, losing revenue running into millions of naira, and cannot do much in this circumstance.
He said, “Last week, organised labour union in Imo State shut down Egbu Transmission Station, which is EEDC’s source of electricity supply, thereby leaving it with no energy to distribute to its customers, a development that has put the whole of Imo State in darkness.
“We can only distribute the power that we receive from TCN stations, and in this case, the station catering for our customers in Imo State has been shut down by the Labour Union.
“The untold hardship and inconveniences this development has caused the company, its staff residing in the state and esteemed customers in Imo State is regrettable and we expressed hope that the parties involved will resolve the issue so that normalcy can return to the state.
“As a Distribution Company, our primary source of supply is from the Transmission Company of Nigeria Stations, and once there is disruption in the chain, we won’t be able to deliver service to our customers.”
Ezeh allayed the fears of customers who are concerned that they might be billed for the period they were out of supply, emphasising that the company does not bill for service not rendered.
“The impact of the power outage currently experienced will reflect on the December bill, which will be for energy consumed in the month of November.
“Whereas the November bill, which is for energy that has been consumed in the month of October, has to be paid for by the customers, as it has no relation with the current power situation being experienced,” he said.
Ezeh urged customers to remain vigilant and ensure that the transformer and other electricity infrastructure serving them are protected, as vandals might want to take advantage of the outage to attack the equipment.
