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50% of electricity consumers not metered, says govt

By Sulaimon Salau
02 February 2015   |   7:15 pm
…2000 workers under investigation over terminal payments REVELATION came Monday that the nation’s power sector was still  operating under grossly poor metering situation, as the Federal Government revealed that about 50 per cent of electricity consumers are yet to be adequately metered by the electricity distribution companies (Discos).   The Minister for Power, Chinedu Nebo,…

…2000 workers under investigation over terminal payments

REVELATION came Monday that the nation’s power sector was still  operating under grossly poor metering situation, as the Federal Government revealed that about 50 per cent of electricity consumers are yet to be adequately metered by the electricity distribution companies (Discos).

  The Minister for Power, Chinedu Nebo, who disclosed this at a regional workshop for distribution utilities, organized by the National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN) and the United States Energy Association (USEA) in Lagos yesterday, said the situation has eaten deep into the revenue generation of the power companies and ripping-off  consumers through estimated billings.

  Nebo, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Ambassador Godknows Igali, therefore said the government has set motions in place to install about one million electricity meters in all the 11 Discos soon.

  According to him, the Federal Government would soon roll out the modalties of sharing the meters among the Discos and ensure that further products are purchased from the indigenous meter manufacturers to entrench sustainable growth in the domestic manufacturing sector.

   However, the minister noted that the Federal Government paid about N390 billion to over 45,000 workers of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) during the privatisation exercise.

  He said the remaining 2000 acclaimed workers were being investigated before payment could be made, adding that indications from the facts gathered by government showed that many of them are ghost workers.

   The names of acclaimed workers, according to him, kept re-occurring many times on the payroll of various Discos, showing that there was something hidden.

  “The remaining 2000 workers are still under scrutiny. Our teams are across the country to investigate the ghost workers among them,” he said.

   The minister however berates incessant vandalism of electricity equipment and gas pipeline, which has seriously impacted the growth of the sector.

  Siting a recent pipeline vandalism that cut about 1000Mega Watts from the grid last weekend, the minister said the menace has become a monster that threatens improved power situation in the country.

  He however, assured that government would continue to work on best modalities to protect the pipeline, adding that the adoption of electronic tracking system was difficult because some of the pipeline passed through some remote villages.

  Speaking on theme of the workshop, “metering, billing and loss reduction”, he said the energy theft/ technical and commercial losses have eaten deep into the purse of the Federal Government in recent times, especially as it brought the revenue from N18 billion to N12 billion in the early privatization regime last year.

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