Mixed reactions have trailed the operations of the Rivers State Independent Power Plant, which was inaugurated by President Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday.
While some residents of Port Harcourt said there was a marginal stability in the supply of power to their homes since the inauguration of the plant, others doubted the workability of the scheme.
A resident of Rumuomasi area of Port Harcourt , who gave his name as Austin Ekema, said there had been no light in the area since Monday.
However, an unnamed female journalist, who resides on Ikwerre Road in Mile One, Port Harcourt , said her refrigerator worked at full capacity for the first time in many months on Tuesday night.
She said that although the light went off and was yet to be restored, as at Wednesday afternoon, she was happy to drink cold water from her refrigerator.
There were indications on Wednesday that the expectations for improved power supply had risen following the inauguration of the much-expected IPP, which gulped over N50bn.
A top official of the state government had flayed the Power Holding Company of Nigeria for not favourably disposed to the plant.
The official from the Power Ministry had alleged that the company was sabotaging the state�s effort to make power available to all parts of the state.
However, the official was said to have been questioned by the state government for making the statement on the state-owned television and private radio stations in the state.
It was reasoned that the airing of the statement barely a few hours to the President�s visit was capable of sending wrong signals to the people and might stop the inauguration.
But the PHCN, in a statement made available to our correspondent in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, denied sabotaging the IPP.
The statement said the PHCN had given full support to the project by shutting some of its facilities to enable the state to inaugurate the project.