From Egbuna Mojekwu, Onitsha
The First Power Electricity Distribution Company (First Power) a subsidiary of Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) has lamented the adverse effect of the United States/ Israel – Iran War in the Middle East on oil shortage and electricity supply in the country.
In addition, the company contended that the drop in electricity supply across the nation was not caused by any operational failure on the part of the company.
Making this known during the Annual Customers Engagement Forum for Awka/Abagana District in Awka, Anambra State capital, the Managing Director of First Power, Engr.Okechukwu Okafor also said that electricity supply received in various communities of the State three months ago dropped by 45 percent, regretting the inconvenience and disruption that households, businesses and industries received as a result of irregular electricity supply.
He further complicating the issue in the Nigeria’s energy sector. Nigeria’s power sector relies heavily on gas-fired plants, which supply more than 70 per cent of electricity on the national grid.
In addition, he pointed out that another setback was serious decline in gas supply which is affecting thermal power plants, which generate the majority of the country’s electricity.
According to him, the three-tier electricity value chain involving Generation Companies (GenCos) which produce electricity; Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) which transmits electricity nationwide; and (c) Distribution Companies (DisCos) which distribute electricity to end users, with the
FirstPower operating only in the third and last (Distribution) segment of this chain.
The result he noted, is that the company neither generate electricity nor control the volume of electricity transmitted/sent to the state, emphasizing that electricity distributed by FirstPower is generated by GenCos, allocated through the national grid and transmitted through infrastructure managed by the TCN.
He recalled that the drop started late last year following the explosion at Escravos-Lagos gas pipeline on December 10, resulting in disruption of operations of some power plants.
Fortunately, he revealed that the challenge was fixed after about two weeks, and steady supply was restored. However, he observed that in January thus year, the lingering issue of Federal Government’s debts owed to GenCos was another setback as, he noted, GenCos operate thermal power plants that use natural gas to produce electricity.
“They connect their power plants to the national grid, allowing them to transmit generated electricity to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) for distribution. GENCos sell electricity to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc, which acts as a creditworthy off-taker, ensuring payment to Generation Companies, “he said.
In a paper he presented, on Public Safety Awareness Campaign, Focus on Violations of Power lines Right of Ways In Awka/Abagana District,” the FirstPower’s Head of Health, Safety and Environment (HSE), Engr. Tosin Fadairo sensitized customers on the need for electrical safety, proper handling of installations, and avoidance of unsafe practices around power lines, transformers, and right-of-way areas.
He cited existing violations within Akwa/Abagana to include markets, street trading centres, etc, advising citizens to avoid planting tall trees, constructing buildings, fences, sheds, shops within the power line, operating cranes, or high reach equipment or TV Antennas that can contact power line or market structures and trading under power lines.
According to him, Clearance Level of various power lines and Mandatory Distance are: 330 KV line – 25 metre on either side (50 metre total width); 132 KV line – 15 metres on either side (30 metres total width); 53,000 Volts, 11000 Volts (5.5 metres on either side (11 metres total width); Low Voltage 415 Volts (5.5metres) on either be side +11 metres width).
Also, In his presentation on the Electricity Value Chair operations of FirstPower, the Chief Technical Officer, Dr. Emeka Egbujor listed ongoing technical interventions by FirstPower towards improving supply stability, including feeder reconfiguration, load balancing, transformer maintenance, and plans for network expansion to meet increasing demand across the district and the state atlarge.
The Chief Commercial Officer, Dr. Mrs. Nnenna Obi who dwelt on commercial operations observed the Company’s billing system, metering programmes, and the ongoing ASAP initiative aimed at improving accountability, customer experience, and revenue assurance, encouraging customers to embrace metering opportunities and to channel complaints through approved communication platforms.
In his remarks, the Head Technical, Engr. Okwudili Udechukwu focussed on the effects and dangers of vandalism of electricity equipment like transformer, power lines, metres etc condemning , illegal connections, and energy theft on electricity supply.
He observed that damaged infrastructure leads to outages, higher operational costs, and poor service delivery and appealed to customers to take ownership and protect installations and report suspicious activities.
Contributing, the Head of Customer Service, Mrs. Obianuju Okafor base presentation on existence of various payment platforms as well as active complaint channels available to customers, including district offices, customer care lines, online platforms, and designated service centres, assuring prompt response system to ensure quicker resolution of complaints and improved communication with consumers.
