By Thompson ABISOLA
Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) said it has invested over N11.5 billion in metering, upgrading and rehabilitation of its network operations in the last six months.
The Managing Director IBEDC, Mr John Donnachie, disclosed this during an inspection tour of the company’s facilities in its service areas.
Represented by the company’s Chief Operating Officer, Mr John Ayodele, Donnachie said the company had invested hugely on major capital projects to ensure efficient service.
“As part of our unwavering commitment to our mission in distributing efficient power and changing lives, we have in the past six months invested over N11.5 billion in major capital projects.
“The investment span cut across our franchise area covering – Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Kwara, parts of Kogi, Niger and Ekiti States.
“These projects are major game changers for IBEDC as a business which have significantly improved our service delivery, quality and quantity of power supply,” he said.
He said the company has commenced the procurement and installation of over 11,000 Distribution Transformer (DT) meters which cost over N4 billion.
He said the DT meters would greatly reduce the challenge of estimated bills and ensure customers without meters are billed more accurately through its energy audit, accounting functionalities.
Above all, the DT would also assist in defraying technical and commercial losses, he added.
Donnachie said: “In line with reducing the incidence of estimated bills, we have commenced our meter roll out with a first batch of 48,470 meters of various ratings and capacities.
“This includes 35,000 single-phase, 12,000 three-phase, 1,470 whole current, C.T-Operated and statistical meters which cost over N3.1billion, ahead of the MAP initiative currently being finalised by NERC and the DisCos.
“The continuous metering of maximum demand customers is also in place with the deployment of 13 High Voltage Energy Meters and delivery of 912 Low Voltage Maximum Demand Energy Meters which cost of N405 million.
“To further support the huge metering expenditure, we have invested extensively in the supply and installation of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) systems at over N1billion.
“As we speak, we have recently received 95 per cent of the Credited Advance Payment for Metering Implementation (CAPMI) meters for deployment for those that paid.”
The lBEDC boss said the board has awarded a N1.47 billion contract for a major overhaul of its Health, Safety and Environment department to further reduce safety related accidents.
The IBEDC helmsman said the on-going Asset and Customer Enumeration (ACE) exercise estimated at N5 billion was fully rolled out across the franchise and scheduled for completion early next year.
On completion, the project would greatly enhance service delivery by providing critical data needed for planning and provision of infrastructure while enhancing quality of power supply and quicker fault responses.
According to him, the pilot exercise at Elebu in Ibadan has already identified additional customer population which is already yielding fruits in terms of efficient customer service delivery.
