Delta State House of Assembly will soon consider a bill that would be signed into law by the state government to unbundle the monopoly that is currently being enjoyed by the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) in the state through Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) arrangement.
Member Representing Ika North-East Constituency in the House Hon. Anthony Elekeokwuri disclosed this when members of the Asaba Correspondents’ Chapel of Delta NUJ led by its chairman, Comrade Dominic Adewole visited him at his office in Asaba.
Hon. Elekeokwuri who doubled as Chairman House Committee on Public Accounts, Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs averred that the monopoly had led to lost of man-power, bankruptcy in businesses and preventing local and foreign investors from engaging the state in genuine businesses.
The lawmaker said cracy billings as a result of estimated bills, total blackout and incessant power outage would be a thing of the past when other private investors would start engaging the electricity company in healthy competition.
He said besides that the committee has helped the state government in blocking all areas of wastage and financial leakages, it has helped to enshrined accountability, transparency and probity in the governance of the state.
He said, “we will generate and regulate our own power when private investors come into the state. Until we say no to electricity monopoly by distribution companies, we will not get it right as a state. The bill when passed and signed into law by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa would unbundle the monopoly being currently imposed on electricity consumers in the state who are paying exorbitantly for what they did not consume.”
He expreased optimism that by next year, the bill would reached advanced stage at the 7th Assembly of the state for private investors to troop into the state.
He said the investment would boost the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state, create employment opportunities and bring succour to residents of the state.