The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Eko DISCO

  • Eko Disco to install 200,000 pre-paid metres

    Management of Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) yesterday said the company planned to install 200,000 pre-paid metres this year to end estimated billing.

    Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Oladele Amoda spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

    Amoda said the company had signed an agreement with Mojek International, an indigenous smart meter manufacturing company, for the supply of over 100,000 meters in December.

    “We also signed another agreement with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd, an international company based in this country, to supply the remaining 100,000 pre-paid meters.

    “We have started metering consumers under our network with these metres.

    “It is our responsibility to meter all consumers and we are looking at being able to deploy the 200,000 meters before the year runs out.

    “The motive is to eliminate estimation of consumers billing by 2017,” he said.

    Amoda said the company had been on a metering programme since 2015 and would have metered all its consumers, but for some challenges confronting successful implementation of the scheme.

    He listed inflation and increase in foreign exchange rate as challenges the company had to contend with.

    Amoda, said that the company installed over 100,000 pre-paid meters for its consumers in 2016.

  • Eko Disco apologises for prolonged power outage

    The Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) yesterday apologised to consumers for prolonged power outage.
    A statement by its General Manager, Corporate Communications, Mr Godwin Idemudia, said the outage followed a system collapse from the National Grid.
    It said the system collapsed on Sunday evening at about 7:30 p.m.
    Repairs, he said, were being carried out to bring the system back on line and restore power.
    Idemudia said the Ikeja West line comprising Agbara and Akoka was restored at 03:56 a.m.
    He said the other areas of Lagos would come on line soon.
    “We are therefore appealing to customers to bear with us as supply will be restored as soon as these repairs are concluded.
    “EKEDC highly regrets any inconveniences caused by this outage,” he added.

  • Eko Disco apologises over prolonged blackout

    The management of Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) on Saturday apologised to customers over continuous shortage of electricity supply.

    A statement by Mr Godwin Idemudia, the company’s Head of Corporate Communications in Lagos, blamed the shortage on a drastic reduction in the amount of electricity coming to EKEDC from the national grid.

    According to the statement, the company could only distribute what was allocated to it from the national grid.

    “We are, therefore, appealing to all our customers to bear with us as we try to ration whatever power is given to us in the interim.

    “EKEDC highly regrets any inconveniences caused by this prolonged blackout, though most of our consumers are affected by this outage but some areas are deeply affected.

    “Areas deeply affected by the drop in generation are Ikoyi, Park View Estate, Victoria Island, Awolowo Road, Obalende, Idumagbo, Lagos Island, Oniru and Lekki areas,” the statement said.

    The statement disclosed that the outage had led to vandalism of cables and transformers by unscrupulous elements.

    It appealed to consumers within the network to be vigilant to stem the spate of cable theft and transformers vandalism.

    “We also want to use this opportunity to appeal to our customers to be vigilant over our equipment as vandals may capitalise on the outage to carry out their evil act,” it stated. (NAN)

  • Eko DisCo: Power sector liquidity gap hits N1tr

    Eko DisCo: Power sector liquidity gap hits N1tr

    • Eyes 598Mw from embedded generation

    The Chief Executive Officer of Eko Electricity Distribution Company (DisCo), Dr Oladele Amoda at the weekend lamented that the funding gap in the power sector has widened to between N900billion and N1trillion.

    Amoda told The Nation that liquidity issue and non-cost-reflective tariff were some of the major challenges facing the DisCos.

    According to him, these problems were caused by huge debts owed power generation (GenCos) and DisCos by consumers.

    He said debts owed EkoDisCo by ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) across all levels of government is estimated at N10.7 billion as at last July.

    Others include non-cost-reflective tariff, energy theft through meter bypass, illegal connection double feeding, vandalism of transformers, cables and power equipment.

    Meanwhile, following persistent poor grid output, Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) has completed arrangement to generate 598 megawatts (Mw) electricity from embedded generation (off-grid electricity by private generators).

    Amoda said power supply from embedded generation had become imperative to enable the utility firm meet the consumption needs of its customers.

    He said the company gets 140Mw through dedicated power supply and has prequalified 10 firms as successful bidders for the supply of 458Mw.

    According to him, 100Mw comes from the rehabilitated STO6 or unit 6 of Egbin Power Station. Unit 6 was not part of the units privatised by the government. Paras Energy Limited is supplying 40Mw.

    Among the prequalified bidders for the supply of 458Mw is First Power Limited. First Power, he said, will be supplying 13Mw. The firm was ready to pump power but EkoDisCo wants to tidy up arrangements and approval from Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and off-takers of the power to be generated.

    “Eko Electricity Distribution Company is the first to enter into bilateral contracts in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) to augment power from the grid. We contracted Egbin Power PLC and Paras Energy through bilateral agreement to improve power supply availability on our network by about 140Mw, and we want to increase that supplementary power to 160Mw soon.

    “We are also the first DisCo to actively engage in embedded generation scheme. We have also sent out letter of intent (LoI) to 10 successful bidders for about 458Mw power generation through our first in class embedded generation programme. We are waiting NERC and off-takers to sign off,” the power chief said.

  • EKO Disco to publish energy thieves’ names

    The  Eko Electricity Distribution Company Plc (EKEDCP) will soon publish the names of energy theft customers on its network, its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr Oladele Amoda said yesterday.

    Amoda told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the company was losing over 30 per cent revenue to energy theft monthly.

    Amoda said it was surprising that educated customers were patronising energy thieves.

    He said they were supposed to understand the essence of paying for electricity, but instead, they engaged in stealing it.

    According to him, most of those caught using energy without paying “were elites living in enlightened areas of our operations.”

    “We are going to start publishing the names of energy theft customers within our operations in the dailies.

    “Most customers caught engaging in energy theft live in lkoyi, Lekki, Victoria Island and most high brow areas,” he said.

    Amoda said that some of them engaged in by-passing of meters, reconnection without payment and tampering with meters among other acts.

    He said the activities of the energy thieves and vandals cost the company over N1 billion monthly.

    “In order to monitor our network effectively for fault detection, clearance and track energy theft, the company has awarded contract to automate the network.

    “We have introduced specialist software to be used for the supervisory control and data acquisition of customers and faults.

    “This is an industrial automation control system at the core of many modern industries to track defaulters and clear technical issues within the network,” he said.

  • Eko DisCo begins metering enumeration

    The Eko Electricity Distribution PLC has started enumeration and area mapping programme for deployment of smart electricity meters to customers in its operational area.

    Its Managing Director, Dr Oladele Amoda, who was represented by the Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Sam Nwaire, spoke at a town hall meeting with customers at the Apapa Business District of the company.

    In a statement by the General Manager, Corporate Communication, Mr. Godwin Idemudia, Nwaire said the enumeration and area mapping was being carried out in all the eight Business Districts of the company.

    He said the purpose of the exercise was to confirm it was committed to its meter roll-out plan, which would be deployed in phases. It would ensure that the access of smart meters by unmetered customers within Eko DisCo network, it said.

    According to him, though the exercise would be carried out in phases, every area would be covered in the end, adding that officers of the company have already embarked on a house to house inspection in designated locations for the commencement of the exercise.

    Nwaire appealed to all customers to cooperate with duly identified officials of the company who will be coming to their areas for the exercise. He deplored a situation whereby officials on their lawful duties for the company were harassed and molested in some communities under the guise of protesting against some issues between such communities and Eko DisCo.

    Nwaire reiterated the company’s commitment to promoting a cordial relationship between it and its customers though prompt attendance to all complaints and grievances by customers, adding that every area and community is vital to the attainment of the company’s corporate goal.

  • Eko DisCo, USAID to sign MoU on technical assistance

    Eko DisCo, USAID to sign MoU on technical assistance

    Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) will soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on technical assistance with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

    Its General Manager, Corporate Communications, Godwin Idemudia, said the technical assistance agreement is from USAID under the US Government funded Power Africa Transactions and Reforms Programme (PATRP) Inc.

    The PATRP, which is designed to bring more electricity to sub-Saharan Africa through utilisation of transaction-centred approach, is a five-year USAID technical assistance project being implemented by Tetra Tech Inc.

    Speaking at the inaugural meeting between EKEDC and Tetra Tech Inc. in Lagos, the President of Tetra Tech Inc., Dean White, said Tetra Tech. has a rich background of experience of partnering and managing power utilities in Africa and as such, he looked forward to a successful partnership with EKEDC.

    Chairman, Board of Directors of Eko Electricity Distribution Company, Charles Momoh, said the company will continue to do everything possible to bring about the desired turnaround in the power situation.

  • Eko DisCo to ration electricity supply to Lekki, Ikoyi, VI

    Eko DisCo to ration electricity supply to Lekki, Ikoyi, VI

    There will be power rationing in Lekki, Ikoyi, Victoria Island and some parts of Ajah from today, the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) said yesterday.

    In a statement by its General Manager, Corporate Communications Unit, Mr Godwin Idemudia, the EDEDC said the rationing would enable the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to upgrade Lines 1 and 2 of Ajah-Alagbon transmission line from 132kv to 330kv.

    During the upgrade, expected to last between three and four weeks, the Lekki transmission injection sub-station serving those areas would be shut down, the statement said.

    “To ensure that the areas are not completely out of supply during the duration of the upgrade, alternative power supply arrangement would be made through back-feeding operation to the areas from Alagbon Transmission injection sub-station via Ijora.

    “We appeal to customers to show understanding and bear with the situation during the period of the facility upgrade.

    “All efforts will be made to ensure equitable distribution of available power to all customers,” Idemudia said.

    The statement said there would be improvement in power supply after the exercise.

  • Eko DisCo partners Mojec on smart meters roll out

    Eko Electricity Distribution Company Plc (EKEDC) is partnering with an indigenous smart meters manufacturing company, Mojec International Limited, to roll out smart meters for its customers.

    This was made known by the management of EKEDC during an inspection tour of its central store located at Ijora Olopa area of Lagos State where thousands of Mojec smart meters are in stock and ready for installation for the customers.

    The Managing Director, EKEDC, Oladele Amoda, said the distribution company under the new metering programme, will ensure that all customers within its network are provided with smart meters in line with the objective of adequately metering unmetered customers and those that have analogue and malfunctioned meters.

    “This new prepaid meters roll out plan is a massive one, as you can see, we have several thousands of smart meters in our store and our engineers have already commenced installation for the customers. We want to assure all our customers that we would not relent in our effort to ensure all customers are provided with prepaid meters within few months,” he said.

    Amoda assured of the company’s commitment to completely eradicate estimated billings, which he noted, is one of the major issues in customers’ dissatisfaction and distrust of the distribution companies (DisCos) under the old Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). He also restated EKEDC’s resolve to constantly improve supply and enhance consumers’ satisfaction.

    He praised Mojec International Limited for its resolve and commitment as a trusted partner to the utility as well as its provision of world-class quality meters, which are now being deployed to customers.

    The Managing Director, Mojec International Limited, Ms. Chantelle Abdul, explained that the firm’s prepaid meters are of international standard and are tropicalised for the Nigerian environment, to withstand the weather condition such as temperature, humidity, meter tampering and energy theft. Meters manufactured in Nigeria by indigenous companies have been specifically designed and crafted to withstand the extreme weather of time and humidity condition as well as theft situation peculiar to the Nigerian environment, she added.

  • Energy firm begins supply of 40Mw to Eko DisCo

    Following the approval by the power sector regulator, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Paras Energy Resources Limited has begun the supply of 40 megawatts of electricity to Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC).

    EKEDC signed an agreement with Paras Energy for the supply of 40Mw of electricity through embedded generation. Power will be supplied to customers because the tariff for such supply is higher than the normal tariff approved by NERC. T It is a dedicated generation and the Eko DisCo pays more for it.

    The embedded generation was okayed by EKEDC management to meet the needs of some special customers who can pay for it, and as part of commitment to the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN).

    At the stakeholders meeting with the minister, the DisCos agreed to improve customer service delivery by strengthening the operations of their customer centres and providing dedicated phone numbers to ensure consumer complaints within their jurisdictions are responded to. With the embedded power, more power from the national grid would be available for other consumers.

    The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Oladele Amoda, who confirmed the partnership between Paras and his firm  noted that the company is also discussing with other firms for more embedded and captive power purchase.

    Fashola also gave Eko DisCo a target to meter 65 per cent of its entire unmetered customers by end of the year, which are about 150,000 customers. Eko has already set a target to meter 90,000 customers by the end of June.

    Amoda also said the company has voted 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.

    Amoda said 7,500 maximum demand (MD) meters and 50,000 non-MD have  been acquired, and installation of the meters has 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.

    “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,” he added.