Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Plc has said that energy consumers in Rivers State aloneis owing the company more than N16billion on defaults from bills payment.
The energy company also said that the huge debts were negatively impacting on its ability to meet statutory obligations to consumers in the state, just as it was at the same time constraining its capacity to procure sufficient feedstock from power generating companies and necessary equipment to provide steady electricity supply to the people in the four franchise states of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River and Rivers.
Managing Director of PHED, Engr Henry Ajagbawa gave this indication while granting audience to the management of Rivers State Newspaper Corporation (RSNC) during a courtesy visit to the DisCo at its corporate headquarters on Moscow Road, Port Harcourt.
Represented at the occasion by the Chief Services Officer, Ochuko Amah, the managing director said that despite the staggering debt profile, PHED has procured more than 400,000 new pre-paid metres from metre manufacturers (MAP Vendors), under the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC)-approved National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP), for installation to reduce the number of unmetred consumers from the present number of over one million consumers.
Ajagbawa said that already, PHED has installed more than 149,000 pre-paid metres in homes and offices of desiring customers, just as it has procured and installed new transformers, feeders, built new substations and repaired or replaced poles, cables of various sizes and types, automatic circuit reclosers, conductors, risers, personal protective equipment (PPEs), and operational vehicles.
He said, “We have imported several 2MVA to 1000MVA transformers to boost distribution capacity in our network efficiency. We have installed 59 distribution substations, and despite the serious vandalisation of our facilities, we have been able to replace and or repair a lot of them. Then, with the support of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and Rivers State Government, we have installed a 60MVA substation at Rumuosi in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area. We have installed over 149,000 pre-paid metres for our customers.
“We are also in talks for a bilateral agreement with the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) and First Independent Power Company Limited (FIPC) to evacuate 100MW and 20MW electricity, respectively, within our contract area.
“Then, more recently, with the support of the Federal Government, we are undertaking projects worth billions of Naira to optimize our network operations and upgrade and rehabilitate our injection substations in line with our Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) programme.”
Ajagbawa further explained that, “On our operations within the system, we have been able to overhaul our PPEs. We have procured over 1,000 PPEs and 345 ladders for our technical staff; we have remodeled our feeder offices, and we have added a new edifice to our corporate headquarters complex, which was built within four months in 2021.
“We have been able to promote 722 staff in 2021; 62 in August, 2021, and 66 in January, 2022. We have launched our engineering training scheme where we train young and fresh engineers from schools. We have 25 already undergoing training in our facility for 2022.”
The managing director also gave details of the challenges PHED was facing in efforts to provide essential services to the people in the four states, saying, “We have massive vandalisation of our facilities in communities and huge energy theft by the rich and poor not just in Rivers State but across all our franchise states. In fact, metre bypass is a major problem for us.
“We also have a huge number who do not like to pay their electricity bills, including individuals and corporate organisations and agencies in both private and public sectors. We have regular attacks and assault on our staff doing their legitimate duties, because people are not willing to pay for services rendered to them. Since we know we are doing the right thing, as we get reports of such attacks, we try to arrest the attackers through the aid of security agencies, and take them to court to secure justice for our staff,” Ajagbawa added.
