The Kano State Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) has officially refuted news reports alleging that it defied the directives of the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu regarding customer disconnections.

This was contained in a statement issued by Sani Sani, Head of the Corporate Communications Unit on Saturday.

The statement was in response to claims which suggested that KEDCO had acted against the Minister’s instructions following a major outage that resulted in a total blackout affecting parts of northern Nigeria from 4:57 a.m. on October 21 to 4:56 p.m. on October 30, 2024.

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Debunking the allegations, the transmission company clarified that the company was not in violation of any directive, particularly concerning billing and disconnections.

“The company has not defied any directives from the Minister following the outage,” Sani noted.

He explained that the electricity bills being collected pertain to consumption in September, which were issued to customers in October.

Disconnections are only being enforced for those who have not settled these prior bills.

Sani emphasized that the Minister of Power had instructed that customers should not be billed for the outage period between October 21 and October 30, 2024.

He assured that this directive would be reflected in the November billing cycle.

“KEDCO will ensure that customers are not billed for this period, and this will be reflected in this month’s (November) bills,” he added.

In his statement, Sani reaffirmed KEDCO’s dedication to regulatory compliance and fair billing practices.

“We also wish to reaffirm our ongoing efforts to improve the quality and reliability of electricity supply to all our customers.”

Furthermore, Sani urged customers to pay their outstanding bills on time to support KEDCO’s operations and the power sector at large.

This clarification comes amid widespread concerns and misinformation regarding the recent power outage and its implications for customers’ billing.