Privatisation: Senate assures power stability

By Etuka Sunday

Te Senate Committee on Privatisation has expressed optimism that the privatisation of the power sector would lead to stable power supply to Nigerians.

The Committee therefore appealed to the public to be patient with the investors who are dedicating themselves to rehabilitating infrastructure to stabilise power supply on a sustainable basis.

This was contained in a statement issued yesterday by the Head, Public Communications, BPE, Chigbo Anichebe.

The statement also said that reacting to an appeal for the National Assembly to intervene in order to get the military formations and the Police to pay their huge debts to electricity distribution companies, the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Olugbenga Obadara who led other

members on a visit to Kano Electricity Distribution Company, KEDCO, stated that the National Assembly would come up with legislation that will compel electricity consumers to pay for energy consumed and advised the management of KEDCO to come up with incentives that will motivate consumers of electricity to willingly pay their bills.

He commended the management of the company for its concerted efforts and well-articulated plans to expand the network and urged them not to relent in their efforts at making the company a success.

Receiving the Senators, the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of Sahelian Power SPV Limited, owners of Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDC), Dr. Jamil I. Gwamna, revealed that the company had signed an agreement with Ajaokuta Steel Company for the supply of 90MW

of electricity to KEDCO to augment the inadequate allocation it currently receives.

He disclosed that plans were on for the company to roll out 100,000 prepaid meters to its customers annually to improve revenue collection.

He added that a system-wide study of the entire network had been completed and future plans made for total repositioning of the company. Initiatives include recruitment of skilled personal;

development of policies and procedures for effective management of the revenue value chain; procurement of working tools, operational vehicles and refurbishment offices and working environment geared towards improving service delivery and efficiency. Consequently,

collections have progressive grown from 58 percent in January 2014 to 65 percent in August 2014.

In a similar tour of Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Mallam Idris D. Mohammed, appealed to the National Assembly to intervene in order to get the military formations and the Police to pay up the N4.4billion they owed the company and also strengthen the existing legislation to deal with vandals of electricity installations in the country and power theft.

He added that the management had embarked on systematic and result-driven restructuring of the workforce before handing over to the new investors.