Minister of Power, Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola says the problem of metering for electricity consumers in Nigeria will soon be addressed as his ministry has issued a regulatory framework to licence meter asset providers, setting aside over N30 billion to implement comprehensive metering nationwide.
Fashola said the Federal Government is working to deliver incremental, stable and sustainable power to all Nigerians on and off the power grid.
The Minister made the remarks at the 27th monthly meeting of the honorable Minister of Power, Works and Housing with power sector operators, in Yola, the Adamawa State capital.
“We have spoken about it and now we are taking action. You must understand that there is a gestation period between policy announcement, implementation and impact,” Fahola said.
“The first thing we have done is to provide a regulatory framework by licencing people to supply these meters, and we published these regulation two meetings ago.
“People are studying these regulations to see how they can become meter asset providers.
“One of the highlights of this regulation is that asset providers would have to work with DISCOS to supply meters to their customers before approaching NEC.
“We have set aside over N30 billion to implement this policy.
“We are also committed to reaching all Nigerians on and off grid.”
Fashola said issues discussed in the meeting revolved around tasking stakeholders in the electricity value chain to step up their services to meet the challenges that the rainy season would present in electricity generation and transmission.
He explained that agriculture can be improved with more power, as economic experts are now predicting that there will be a fall in inflation due to improvement in agriculture, and improved electricity generation in the country is key this success.
The Minister explained that the Federal Government has expanded the transformer capacity in places like Madagali and some parts of Borno, and that 80℅ of damaged assets destroyed by the Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast have been restored.
“We know that there is more work to be done and more people to be reached whether on or off the grid, and we are committed to it,” Fashola said.
Speaking at the ocassion, chairman of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) Usman Gur Mohammed said, “We have completed 80℅ of 32kva power lines that have been destroyed by [the] Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast as a result of the intervention of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing.
“This include the rehabilitation of the 33kva transmission line between Dambua and Madagali, Damasak and Maiduguri, among other facilities that have been restored in the zone.
“We have also achieved a lot of investment in the zone, curbed technical losses and reduce electricity incidences significantly.
“We have also improved revenue collection by almost 200℅.”
Gur said the TCN is working hard to increase power generation capacity to 9000 megawatts by the end of 2018. (The Sun)
