Electricity consumers in Delta State can now heave a sigh of relief as the bill to unbundle the monopoly currently being enjoyed by the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) in the state will soon be before the state house of assembly.

The bills coming through Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) arrangement is hopefully expected to change abuses by the distribution company.

The chairman of the state’s House of Assembly Committee on Public Accounts, Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Hon Anthony Elekeokwuri, representing Ika North East constituency, said the monopoly had led to loss of man-power, bankruptcy in businesses and preventing local and foreign investors from engaging the state in genuine businesses.

The lawmaker 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 was speaking when members of the Asaba Correspondents’ Chapel of NUJ, visited him in Asaba.

According to him, crazy 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 to engage 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 by enshrining accountability, transparency and probity in the governance of 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.

(Nigerian Tribune)