By Moses Uyi Osaretin
If ever there was a textbook example of how not to run a utility company, the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) would easily make the front page. For residents of Omoregie area, MTN Mast axis in Ugbor, Benin City, BEDC has become synonymous with failure, disappointment, and utter disregard for customer welfare.
For more than two years, the area has suffered from epileptic power supply due to a defective Omoregie transformer. During this time, the affected residents have written letters, made countless visits to BEDC offices, cried regularly on the WhatsApp group created by BEDC agents themselves, and even engaged community leaders to intervene. Yet, the response has been the same: silence, excuses, and inaction.
“How can a whole power distribution company be dancing around a transformer fault for over two years and still call itself an organization?” fumes Mr. Osagie Emmanuel, a resident whose household now runs entirely on a petrol generator. “This is not just inefficiency—it is a complete system failure.”
In many developed climes, the inability to fix such a basic technical fault within weeks would spark resignations, investigations, and compensations. But here, BEDC continues to bill consumers for power they rarely supply—with no explanation, no timeline, and no shame.
The economic and emotional toll is staggering. Small business owners are bleeding financially, with some closing down due to the unsustainable cost of fueling generators. Students are struggling to study. Families sleep in darkness and heat. Security concerns are rising. Yet, BEDC marches on as if all is well.
“If BEDC’s management still reports to anyone, they should be held accountable for gross negligence, says Mr. John Omoregie, a community advocate. “What’s happening here is not just bad service—it’s a betrayal of public trust.”
Despite its mandate to serve, BEDC has seemingly chosen a path of indifference. The transformer at the heart of the crisis—serving a densely populated residential areahas remained in poor condition, unserviced, and unreplaced. Every complaint seems to vanish into a void.
“It is tragic that we have to beg to have light in 2025,” says Mrs. Ehis Agbonlahor, a retired civil servant. “BEDC has failed us completely. If this isn’t the definition of a failed organization, | don’t know what is.
What makes it more infuriating is the company’s habitual billing of residents for electricity not supplied. “How do you send us estimated bills every month when you ve barely given us two hours of power in a week?” asks another resident. “BEDC is collecting money for darkness.’
Many now look back at the days of BEDC under the management team led by Mrs. Funke Osibodu as the company’s glory days—a period when residents at least knew their load-shedding schedule and could predict when they d get power and for how long. While not perfect, that era offered structure, transparency, and a semblance of accountability—qualities that are now glaringly absent.
Calls for a total overhaul of BEDC’s operations and management are growing louder. Some residents are advocating for class action lawsuits, others for community protests and media pressure. Many now openly call for the revocation of BEDC’s license.
At a time when Nigeria claims to be moving toward improved power sector reforms, the Ugbor experience exposes the rot and reality on the ground—a power company that takes and takes but fails to deliver even the bare minimum.
BEDC may still carry the label of a “distribution company,” but to the people of Ugbor—MTN Mast to be specific—it is simply this: a true definition of a failed organization. 07:14
Moses Uyi Osaretin is a journalist, broadcaster, public affairs commentator and media consultant.
