Eko DisCo is the best in Nigeria, says NERC Chairman

LAGOS, Nigeria – Chairman of Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Prof. James Momoh, has commended the management of Eko Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) for being the best performed distribution company in Nigeria.

Momoh gave the commendation at the completion of training programme for the 100 newly employed graduates by the company in Lagos. He said the DisCo has performed credibly well in discharging its statutory obligations towards effective electricity distribution to customers within its operational area.

He said the company has attained 100 per cent customer complaint resolution, adding that part of the NERC scorecard indices used for the rating include Aggregate Technical, Commercial and Collection (ATC&C) loss reduction, revenue collection and metering.

Others are High Voltage fault clearance index, remittance to Market Operator and remittance to Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET).

According to him, the Meter Assess Provider (MAP) programme has come to stay because all DisCos had signed an agreement with the meter providers within their operation to kick start the rollout of metering but it’s not free.

“Meter distribution is going to be on monthly basis to customers as DisCos are committed to MAP services. MAP is not a problem; Nigerians will get meter but they have to follow the procedure to get the meters.

“Cost-reflective tariff will be effective when there are no more losses in the system. When meters are installed and issues of customers enumeration is put in place and that will address most lingering issues in the sector. Very soon the price regime on cost reflective tariff will be out which electricity customers will also partake in the discussion to put the power sector in the right direction,” he said.

The NERC chairman tasked the newly employed graduates to be more committed, dedicated and focused in the course of their duties.He said that achieving incremental, stable and uninterrupted power in a safe and affordable manner is required of distribution companies which need not to be compromised.

Momoh said: “To achieve optimal energy generation, transmission and distribution, there is need for capacity building to design, construct, build and test the new grid that is sustainable.

“Need new curriculum for universities that would be revised for every electrical engineering student to take economic courses, finance and vice-versa; the general course in apps design and communication, data analytics should be taught.

In his remarks, Mr. Charles Momoh, the Chairman of EKEDC, advised the newly employed graduates to take the job very seriously and be more focused on achieving their goals, adding that the system will also reward quality, dedication and commitment to service delivery.

Momoh said: “You are the growth that will control the economy. We want you to be free and relate very well and avoid partaking in politics, gossip and disobedience.

The Managing Director of Eko DisCo, Mr Adeoye Fadeyibi, said: “We are here for an unprecedented premier edition of EKEDC training programme where we have 100 individuals who are graduating today, something that has not been done before in this particular distribution company, where we carefully selected from almost 1,300 applicants.

“We have been able to fairly look at 100 people that we are celebrating today as they are graduating from this programme. We have a mix of 60 per cent of entry level, 30 per cent of mid-level and 10 per cent experts or experienced level. The idea was for them to go through detailed rotation, to ensure that they are good in different departments and come out being very confident. And to also have the capacity to turnaround the power sector,” he said.

Fadeyibi, said the training will bridge the gap for the company, saying that “I am also excited because as a Nigerian, I see a lot of our colleagues in other DisCos probably joining us to do the same or even better.

“At EKEDC, we don’t pay lip service; there is lot more to do. Not just for EKEDC but for everybody else. We are the number one in the country, the key areas we have focused on and succeeded in the last two years include being accessible to customers. We are present online, on social media and direct interactions.

We ensure that customers’ engagement is key. In ensuring quality of service, we ensure to continue to improve our network. We have zero tolerance for safety issues, you can see the reduced amount of incidence that we have faced.

According to Fadeyibi,  these are not young graduates, we have the majority that are young graduates but we also have to put a lot of focus on mid-level and the experienced because you can imagine some of the middle level are taking a chance in their career to move into a new area in most cases.

We have already started to see the impact, even during their six months. This is a little over six month programme, intensive like I said, and what we expect is that they will now move into the departments a little focused, understand the clear mission of the company which is to ensure we are the number one customer-focused utility company, not just in Africa but have to compete globally.

So, at the end of the day, what does that mean to customer is how do we start working towards this 24/7 uninterrupted service and I am excited that we are on the right track now.