Tag: Fashola

The Federal Government is putting measures in place to stamp out the controversial estimated billing system in the power sector.

Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) said the legislative arm of government is considering criminalising estimated billing to earn consumers’ confidence while plans are ongoing by the executive and legislative arms of government to operationalise the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) regulation by leveraging private sector experience to bridge the metering gap in the sector using the N37billion Seed Fund provided by the government.

The minister noted this at the 28th monthly meeting of operators in the electricity industry, which held at Mando Transmission Station, Mando, Kaduna State. He stated that these measures have become imperative in view of instances of estimated billing, which have become  major cause of distrust to customers in the power sector and advised the DisCos to leverage the N37billion facility to a Meter Asset Provider.

The operators expressed concern about reports of electricity distribution companies (DisCos) not connecting to completed distribution facilities built by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited (NDPHC) and the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) on the grounds of difficulty in servicing the areas.

As a result of this development, the stakeholders resolved that all DisCos should submit to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) a list of the areas and communities within their franchise where they have difficulty in serving the customers and state the reasons in other to enable the government review and develop policies that will ensure service to these areas.

Another major subject that dominated the discussions was the challenge of power supply disruption, which comes with the rainy season such as breakdown of power equipment following thunderstorm, among others. Fashola, therefore, reiterated the need for operators to be proactive in resolving issues, which affect the quality of service during the rainy season in areas of repairs, maintenance and replacement of obsolete power infrastructure that will happen during adverse weather.

He emphasised the need for the DisCos to regularly get weather information from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) to predict service disruption and frequently inform consumers on restoration plans and timelines.

Fashola said: “I have used the opportunity of this meeting to focus attention of operators, generation companies (GenCos), Transmission Company and DisCos, who are the points of public interface, on the need to pay more attention to service delivery, repairs, and maintenance of equipment.

“We are beginning a different weather season that will see more rainfall, thunderstorms, lightening and windstorms. All of these will affect regular supply one way or another. Trees will fall and disrupt lines, poles and lines may be damaged, and service will be disrupted.

“In all these situations, we must prepare our staff to anticipate, plan, and respond. Most importantly, we must inform the public about the problems and what we are doing to restore service whenever there are disruptions. As a consumer myself, nothing gives me more comfort than when my service provider shares information about service disruptions. It tells me quickly that at least, somebody knows that there is a problem, and gives me hope that something is being done about it.”

Kaduna Electricity Distribution Plc Managing Director, who hosted the meeting, reported that consumers within his franchise now get increased hours of power supply daily.

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola  has said there would be drop in power supply because of the rain.

He said power equipment were prone to destruction when there is heavy rainfall, adding that  transformers, wires, cables and others are damaged by thunderstorm.

Speaking on the sideline of a stakeholders’ forum in Lagos, he said heavy rainfall was not a new thing , adding that thunder storms  have  debilitating effects on power supply.

He said efforts were on to reduce the havoc wrecked on power facilities by rain.

Fashola said: “We (the government) are guiding against future occurrence as power is key to the growth of the country.  We are trying to bring in power equipment that is water-proof to forestall destruction of the facilities by rainfall.

He said the Federal Government was worried that the level of investment in the sector had reduced due to the fact that investors were no longer interested in making more investments in the industry.

He said generation, distribution and transmission arms of the nation’s power sector are worst hit as people are not ready to invest in any of them.

He said few out of over 100 licences issued to investors in the generation segment of the industry were active, noting that the issue was having negative effect on the sector.

Fashola said over 800 containers were stranded at the ports across the country, when he assumed office, adding that they were filled with power equipment.

He said: “The containers were not cleared by the Federal Government then because money was not budgeted for that purpose. Nigerians are witnessing the effects of that mistake because the government failed to spend enough money on the sector. Had it been that money budgeted for the sector was well utilised, we would not have been complaining of irregular power supply in the country.’’

Fashola said the current administration had succeeded in clearing 501 containers of power equipment, which have been sent to sites where power plants are located.

“Where do you think those containers are now? They are in the sites, including power substations in the country,” he said, adding that while some power substations have been completed, others are nearing completion,” he said.