The Nation Newspaper

Tag: EKEDC

  • Why DISCOs are phasing out analogue meters, by EKEDC chief

    Why DISCOs are phasing out analogue meters, by EKEDC chief

    Non-Functioning  of analogue meters, shortage of spare parts and  advent of smart meters, among others, are reasons the Distribution Companies (DisCos) are phasing out analogue meters, The Nation has learnt.

    It was gathered that many of the analogue meters are old, thereby making it difficult for the power distribution firms to get accurate reading  from them.

    The Chief Executive Officer, Eko Electricity Distribution Company, (EKEDC) Dr.  Oladele Amoda, said most analog meters are not working well, because they are old.

    He said the meters are obsolete, dysfunctional and prove difficult to read, adding that the development informed the decision of power  firms’ plan to phase out the meters in line with the agreement they signed with the Federal Government during the privatisation of the power sector.

    He said the government has given DiSCos between 2013 and 2018 to provide meters to their customers, adding that many of the firms were unable to keep to the agreement due to financial and technical problems.

    He said: “The analog meters have been in the system for long. I think the last production of analog meters was either in 1982 or 1985. This means that some analog meters have spent 30 years or more.  The timeline for the meters is between 15 and 20 years.When the manufacturers of meters said that the expiring date of the meters is for instance, 2012, they add some months on top of it, which means that the meters can still be used a year after the expiry date. By and large, analog meters are old, coupled with the fact that activities on those meters have reduced considerably. At this level, the DiSCOs have no choice than to phase them out.’’

    He said components of the analog meters were no longer in the market, stressing that manufacturers of such meters were producing products with huge technologies.

    Amoda said Eko DisCo has started the phasing out analog meters, by providing smart meters to its customers, adding that the firm would soon replace obsolete meters in its area of coverage.

    The Project Director/Business Leader, Advanced Metering infrastructure, Sahara Energy Group, Mr. Rotimi Onanuga, said the firm decided to introduce the initiative in order to ensure metering efficiency.

    Speaking during a stakeholders’ forum in Lagos, he said efforts were being made to ensure that effective distribution and use of meters in the firm’s area of jurisdiction. According to him, phasing out of analog meters and replacement with prepaid meters is part of efforts, which the company is making to ensure energy efficiency.

    He said the firm was hoping to provide its customers with prepaid meters soon, stressing that the idea would help in phasing out analog meters.

    He said local manufacturers of meters do not have the capacity to produce enough meters for electricity consumers, noting that the development made his firm to seek foreign partnership to provide smart meters  to the customers.

  • Energy theft threatening power sector, says EKEDC

    Energy theft threatening power sector, says EKEDC

    THE greatest threat to private investors and the reform in the power sector is energy theft by consumers, a Director in Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), George Etomi, has said.

    He lamented that almost every consumer, including the elite who consume energy without paying the bills by by-passing electricity meters, are involved in energy theft.

    “You see the meters rolling, but they are not recording. People just consume and don’t pay,” he lamented.

    Etomi said there are people whose consumption is tied to other people’s meters. “There are some people whose meters we don’t even have access to. The prepaid meter is one of the most by-passed meters,” he said, adding that some people have between 10 and 20 air-conditioners in their houses but have single phase meter and then somehow pass their bill to somebody else.

    He, however, blamed the problem of energy theft on people’s perception over the years that electricity is a national cake. “In some communities, our workers cannot even go there to present bills; they will kill them. And if you go there and disconnect, they will reconnect. If you go back, they will molest you. So electricity theft is one of the greatest threats and that is because people over the years have just been used to power being like a share of the national cake. So, it’s not anything to them to steal,” he said.

    Etomi said because very few people pay electricity bill, energy theft has resulted in serious liquidity crisis in the system. While noting that perpetrators of the act are probably unaware of the harm they do to the system, he said because of energy theft there is not much cash in the system. “In fact, it is the few good people who pay their bills that are subsidizing the bad people in this electricity business. So, the whole system is totally starved of fund,” he added.

    The EKEDC director, however, said the company is using technology to overcome the challenge of electricity theft. He said the company is currently working on a programme to replace the pre-paid meters, which are easily compromised, with smart meters, and that under the programme customers with pre-paid meters would eventually get smart meters.

    “The smart meter will be located away from your house; what you have in your house is a dummy, like a counter. And what we are seeing, you too are seeing. They are in clusters; even if you manage to get there, you don’t even know which is yours,” he explained, adding that with prepaid meters, consumers and service providers would no longer be cheated.

    While urging consumers to be patient, Etomi pointed out that re-metering everybody would not be an easy task. He said apart from the capital expense involved the physical thing, there is need to know how many people are on the network and their pattern of consumption. According to him, there are close to 500, 000 consumers on EKEDC’s network alone.

  • Eko DISCO votes N50b for meter acquisition

    Eko DISCO votes N50b for meter acquisition

    Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) has earmarked N50 billion to procure smart meters to realise its metering programme planned for three years. The amount is expected to cover the metering of the company’s over 400,000 customers.

    The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Oladele Amoda during the quarterly briefing on the company’s operation said 7,500 maximum demand (MD) meters and 50,000 non-MD have currently been acquired, and installation of the meters have begun.

    He said $9.7 million was spent on purchase of the MD meters while N2.8 billion was spent on non-MD meters, in all, about N5 billion has been spent on the MD and non-MD meters. He noted that the company has about 400,000 customers and an estimated N50 billion will be able to meter all of them, he added.

    Amoda said: “To tackle the metering challenge, a total of 7,500 MD meters have been procured at the cost of N2.8 billion and another 50,000 meters for non-MD customers. These meters both for MD and non-MD constitute only the first phase of our metering plan that will see all our close to 400,000 customers metered free of charge. Installation of the first phase meters for MD and non-MD customers has already begun.

    “Though it will not be possible to reach all customers at the same time, the assurance for all customers is that in end, everyone will be metered with smart meters free of charge. Because of our belief in contributing meaningfully to the local economy, we have procured a larger portion of these meters from local meter manufacturers.

    “For those customers that cannot wait for the installation schedule, can get their meters immediately through Credited Advance Payment for Metering Implementation (CAPMI). Such customers pay for the meters and later paid back gradually by the distribution company.

    “Altogether, a total of N50 billion will be expended to cover all customers within the next three years.”

    He noted that the rehabilitation effort of the company is ongoing and assured customers that the impact of the efforts will soon be felt and seen, adding that the rot caused in the power sector due to decades of neglect is being cleaned. Several transformers are being injected into the system, while lines are being rehabilitated and upgraded, he added.

  • EKEDC pleads with consumers over outages

    The management of Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) has appealed to consumers in FESTAC Town, Lagos over the irregular power supply in the last two weeks.

    Mr Godwin Idemudia, Assistant General Manager, Head, Corporate Communication, EKEDC made the appeal yesterday in Lagos.

    Idemedia said that the outage was due to faulty underground cables that supply electricity to the area.

    He assured that constant power supply to the town would be restored on April 29.

    “I want to assure the affected consumers that electricity supply will be restored to them on April 29.

    “Most of the installations in FESTAC Town were built underground but it is quite unfortunate that people have erected buildings on these cables.

    “This,” he said, “has made it occasionally very difficult for our engineers to trace fault anytime the cable is faulty.

    “We are being confronted with this problem daily and this has led to the delay in restoring power supply to our consumers in the area.

    “A mighty building was erected exactly where the present cable got damaged, thereby making it difficult for our engineers to rectify it on time.

    “Even some of the consumers in the area protested to our office in FESTAC Town last week but we assured them that work is ongoing on the said cable,” he said.

    He said that the engineers have discovered an alternative way to rectify the cable.

    He urged the customers in the affected areas not to vandalise EKEDC equipment in their neighbourhood because of the outage.

     

  • Eko DISCO votes N18b for capex

    Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) has earmarked N18 billion for capital expenditure this year, the Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Oladele Amoda, has said.

    Amoda, who made this known at the firm’s quarterly briefing, said $15 million has been set aside for the acquisition of both Maximum Demand metres for industrial users and aother N20 billion for residential and commercial customers.

    He said the company is making efforts to improve electricity supply to its customers and it is currently reinforcing its network and exploring embedded generation to complement supply from the national grid.

    He said power supply from the grid currently hovers around 200 megawatts (MW) to 250MW, a level he said is grossly inadequate for customers on the firm’s network. He said the generation level is a far cry from the needed 700Mw needed to meet its customers’ demand.

    To address this, Amoda said the company has signed on some power generating firms to provide EKEDC electricity. He listed some of the companies to include Ijora Power 13MW, Apapa Power firm 30MW and Parax, a power firm in Ogijo, Ogun State, 40MW.

    He said the Eko Power firm is eyeing about 170MW from off-grid (embedded) supply in the next few years.

    On the debts owed by customers, Amoda stated that before privatisation, the company was owed N10 billion, and mostly by the military and government agencies; these debts have now been inherited by the Nigeria Electricity Liability Management Company Limited (NELMCO).

    From November 2013 to date, he said that customers owe the company N700 million; debts which are chiefly owed by the military and government but noted that the management is discussing with the military on modality of payment.

  • Shortage of pre-paid metres hits distribution firms

    The distribution companies (DISCos) unbundled from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) have been hit by shortage of prepaid meters.

    The privatisation of the successor companies, including the generation companies (GENCos), was done, among others, to improve electricity supply since their coming about a year ago,  this expectation has not been met.

    Officials of Ikeja and Eko Electricity Distribution Companies (IKEDC and EKEDC) told The Nation that  both firms do not have prepaid meters. Besides, there is a backlog of customers who have paid and have been awaiting collection months.

    “I will confirm to you as a friend that we do not have prepaid meters at the moment. But you cannot tell customers that we have exhausted our stock.The Federal Government has stopped importation and sale of prepaid meters presently. Therefore, we only make efforts to see if we can deliver to customers that have already paid but for customers that are making fresh purchase, we cannot guarantee that now. The fact is that sale of prepaid meters has been suspended until further notice,” the sources said.

    With the scarcity of prepaid meters, the application of estimated billing for electricity consumers, might likely increase. The prepaid metering system was introduced to reduce or eliminate estimated billing system because customers complain of being given outrageous bills. The prepaid metering enables a customer to plan his or her consumption according to affordability.

    Customers, who spoke to The Nation at Somolu, Ikorodu, Island Business Units, among others, said they had been at the offices for several times, though they had paid for the metres, they were unable get them. Others said they had money on them but couldn’t pay as the power firms said there were no meters.

    The new investors have been complaining about poor revenue collection from customers, which is below their projections on takeover of the assets in November, last year. To improve revenue generation, the DISCos are exploring alternative sources of power supply, especially through embedded and captive power generation.

  • Vandalism: EKo DISCO woos police

    As part of efforts to tackle vandalism of electricity equipment and harassment of its workers by some customers, the management of Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), is soliciting the assistance of security agencies in Lagos State.

    Its Managing Director/Chief Executive Engr. Oladele Amoda, who spoke when he led the company’s management team on the courtesy visit to Lagos State Commissioner of Police, commended the police for its good job at securing electricity installations against vandalism in the company’s area of operations.

    He solicited more assistance from the police in order to successfully combat the menace. Amoda said aside  vandalism, the assistance of police and other security agencies would also be needed in preventing harassment and violent attacks on the workers of the company while on official duties by some people he referred to as criminally-minded people in the society.

  • DISCO apologises for power outage

    DISCO apologises for power outage

    The Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) apologised yesterday for the power outage at the National Theatre in Iganmu, Lagos, in the last eight days.

    EKEDC spokesman, Ijora Business Unit, Peter Ayiwe, made the apology during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

    Ayiwe said the outage was due to a faulty underground cable, adding that engineers were working on it. He said power would be restored today.

     

  • Eko DISCO seeks 400MW from embedded generation

    Eko DISCO seeks 400MW from embedded generation

    •Partners Flour Mills, Honeywell on ‘captive’ power

     

    The Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) is searching for alternative power supply of about 400 megawatts (MW) to meet the demand of its customers as the supply from thwe national grid has fallen, a development which necessitated cutting the firm’s daily power need of 700MW to 250MW, thereby leading to massive load-shedding and rationing.

    EKEDC’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Oladele Amoda, told The Nation that the initiative had become imperative as the company cannot continue to rely on the power supply from the grid.

    He said with the embedded generation, a chunk of the power would be under the company’s control, which would enable EKEDC to offer its customers some stable supply and plan proper maintenance schedules when necessary.

    He said the company has advertised for submission of bids by the companies that are interested to be part of the embedded generation (generation outside the national grid) deal, adding that on expiration of the bids’submission, the management will select the successful or preferred bidders, sign Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with them, meter their generation, send it to the company’s system and to the customers.

    Amoda said the management of EKEDC is also discussing with companies that generate more than they need, such as Honeywell and Flour Mills, to buy the excess power, adding that the company has concluded such arrangement with Island Power to be buying 1.5MW from its generation at off-peak periods between 10pm and 6am, which will commence before end of the month.

    Amoda said: “We have advertised to invite the people that are willing to partner with us in the embedded generation deal. Several of them have applied. The successful bidders will put up their plants of various capacities depending on what they want to do. They will put up the plant and we will sign PPA agreement with them. We will meter their generation at the intake and send the power to our customers.

    “The main purpose of this initiative is that we will not continue to rely on the power that we get from the grid because it is not constant, it fluctuates and besides, in the past five months, we have not been able to get more than 260 MW and even sometimes less than 100MW and we have the capability of taking 700MW, which is the demand. You can see the difference between an average of 200MW and 700MW daily.’’

    He continued: “The consequence of this huge supply gap is rationing of available power and massive load-shedding, which are ongoing. They attributed the power supply gap to inadequate gas to run the power stations, arising from vandalism and sabotage, so that is where we are. Going forward, we are looking at about 400MW from embedded that will be under our control and will not be subject to grid supply. This will enable us to offer our customers a measure of stable supply. The initiative will us enable us plan maintenance of our facilities when necessary by having a regulated load-shedding programme that everybody will know, but we cannot do any reasonable load-shedding programme because of the limited supply.

    ‘’We are starting on gradually and will ramp up 400MW by mid-next year because many people are showing interest to partner with us. At the expiration of submission of applications, we will go through the bids and inform those that are successful and when we will draw the PPA we will go to NERC because it has a role to play in it.’’

  • DISCOS eye independent power generators

    DISCOS eye independent power generators

    As power generation level continues to decline as a result of gas pipeline vandalism, electricity distribution companies (DISCOs) are looking beyond the national grid and discussing with private power generating firms.

    Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) is one of such DISCOs. Its Chief Executive Officer, Oladele Amoda, told The Nation that exploring such option had become imperative as the upstream segment has a problem and has failed the nation.

    He said: “We are exploring new ways of bringing power to our network outside the grid. We are going into embedded generation to complement whatever we are going to get from the grid. The grid is having some challenges now, but we want to overcome the challenges in the shortest possible time.”

    He explained that embedded generation is another viable option because it is got outside the national grid. According to him, this type of generation is achieved through a bilateral agreement between the generating firms and the DISCO.

    He said embedded generation is done in small forms but the generated power is given to DISCO directly.

    “The power generation we have is generated into the grid and from the grid it is allocated to DISCOs, but the embedded generation is direct arrangement between the company that is offering the embedded power and the DISCO.

    “It is a direct agreement. The company will set up their plants, we discuss on the terms, which include tariff and others. We will take power directly from them,” he said.

    Amoda, however, said embedded generation is just complementary power that is off-grid. “We have control over that and it will be more stable than the one from the grid. “Grid power is subjected to system collapse and other issues but embedded power wherever we channel it to, the customers there will have stable power supply,” he added.

    He said the firm wants to expand the network because what it inherited is such that it cannot carry the load that the management expects in the near future.

    “So we have a plan to reinforce the lines, change all the obsolete equipment to improve supply,” he added.

    He also said as part of strengthening the network of the firm and human capacity development as well as customer care, the management is investing in all the value chain of the operation. He added that the company has a training programme that is structured and tailored to suit all its activities. “Very soon, we will get some National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN) trained engineers to complement what we have,” he assured.