Power: EMSL to improve standards, tackle fake installations

By Etuka Sunday

Electricity Management Services Limited (EMSL) said plans have been concluded to improve technical standards in the Nigerian electricity market and also tackle the use of substandard power equipment and fake installations.

The Managing Director of EMSL, Engr. Peter Ewesor while clearing the air on the mandate of EMSL said, the agency was not set up to regulate the sector but to enforce regulations and codes.

“We have been passing the message to say we are not a regulator but an enforcement agency to ensure that the regulations, codes and specifications that have been made are eventually enforced in the industry.”

According to him, the privatised utility companies are expected to make over N3trillion investment to improve the generation, transmission and distribution services within the next five years and that calls for an agency that would ensure that, that critical assets are checked for standards.

It was gathered that there will be another public hearing this Tuesday on the agency’s Act, the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Authority (NEMSA) which would give a legal backing to EMSL operations.

An official in the Federal Ministry of Power also hinted that the report of the technical committee to harmonise EMSL and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) recommended that both agencies should exist in the sector in line with international best practice.

It said while NERC remains the electricity market regulator, EMSL will continue to enforce technical standards and certify technically fit equipment and power sector companies.

The MD of the agency in his brief also noted that the agency was able to halt the activities of some foundry firms recently for engaging in unspecified standards of pole manufacturing, just as it plans to extend its capacity to have a wider coverage for its inspectorate activities.

“Our task of enforcing electricity technical standards goes beyond the value chain of Discos, Gencos and transmission as it includes Independent Power Plants (IPPs), International Oil Companies (IOCs) and even household electrical installations,” he said.