COMMUNITY REPORT: KEDCO in response to Katsina Mirror’s Report brings Relief to Rimaye Street and Environs

Finally, after Katsina Mirror report, KEDCO came a week later and added two poles to redirect the power line as suggested in the earlier report.

Katsina Mirror had reported a connection that put the lives of people living at No. 21, Rimaye Street, Katsina at risk by the power cable that lies on the roof of one of the three flats in the compound and the suffering of people living in the area due to lack of power supply whenever the live wire touches the roof where the neutral is lying as a result of slight wind blowing.

The cables touches the roof of the apartment linking with the neutral thereby causing power failure in the area leaving everyone in a blackout sometimes for days until KEDCO technicians who are the only one authorised to work on transformer arrives and it is almost a daily occurrence during windy seasons.

Finally, after Katsina Mirror reported, KEDCO came a week later and added two poles to redirect the power line as suggested in the earlier report.

Although, the technical manager had argued that it was the building that violated the right of way of the power line but the people who have lived in the area before the power line said it was KEDCO who did not want to use enough poles to get the power line to the other end therefore crossing the cable over the compound. Over time, one of the poles bent causing the cables to sag leaving it lying on the roof of the house in question.

According to a reliable source, a Landlord whose house is under construction in the area funded the project just as the technical manager told Katsina Mirror earlier that someone having house in the area had called asking for what it will cost to bring final solution to the problem.

There are many such connections around Katsina metropolis putting lives of people in danger and causing people to suffer blackout or low voltage even when there is power supply.

There are other suggestion in Katsina Mirror’s earlier report which KEDCO may need to consider for better service delivery to customers. Katsina Mirror suggested that

1. KEDCO supposed to have supervisors who goes around to check work done by their so called professional staffs and contractors.
2. KEDCO supposed to have logs of complaints made by customers and give attention to recurrent ones for follow up and better attention.
3. KEDCO should begin to do an overhaul of all their installation to meet up with developments in our communities.
4. KEDCO should start penalizing staff who collects money from customers.
5. KEDCO should set up dedicated call centers to centralize complaints for easy analysis.
6. KEDCO should lay off incompetent staff and employ experienced ones with good initiative.
7. KEDCO should do regular checks on their installations without waiting for customers to call.
8. KEDCO should ensure effective service delivery by publishing daily, weekly or monthly power distribution so that customers will know when to have light and when not so that they can brace up for it, etc.

In conclusion, since customers are paying more for power it is important that they enjoy the power. The Electricity regulation agency too needs to be all out to put KEDCO on its feet to serve the people better and observe ethics of government policies guiding their operations.