Aba Power promises electricity restoration as gas repairs near completion

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By Udeme Akpan

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Aba Power has assured residents and businesses in the Aba Ring-fenced Area that electricity supply will be restored before the end of the week following progress in efforts to resolve the gas supply disruption that plunged the area into darkness.

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The assurance came as members of the Abia State House of Assembly Committee on Power and Public Utilities visited the company to assess the situation behind the prolonged outage affecting nine of the state’s 17 local government areas.

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Chairman of Aba Power and former Minister of Power, Bart Nnaji, told the lawmakers that supply would resume once a critical component of the gas pressure system is installed.

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According to him, the component—a Clutch Gear and Starter Motor—has arrived in Nigeria after being sourced from the United States by Heirs Energies, the operator of Oil Mining Lease (OML) 17 and gas supplier to the 188-megawatt Geometric Power Plant in Osisioma, Aba.

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The Aba Ring-fenced Area, which has enjoyed relatively stable electricity since the commissioning of the Geometric Power project two years ago, has been without power since last Thursday after Heirs Energies announced the failure of the Clutch Gear and Starter Motor at its Associated Gas Gathering (AGG) Plant in Obigbo, Rivers State. The company attributed the failure to the age of the equipment.

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Speaking during the visit, Chairman of the Abia State House of Assembly Committee on Power and Public Utilities, Aaron Uzodike, said the lawmakers were concerned by the unexpected blackout after residents had become accustomed to stable electricity in the Aba Ring-fenced Area.

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