The Managing Director of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), Engineer Ernest Mupwaya, Tuesday, disclosed that his company needed a 43billion-investment to guarantee stable and reliable power supply for its customers.
AEDC’s customers cut across the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nassarawa, Niger and Kogi states.
Mupwaya, who spoke during an interactive session between the AEDC Executive Management Team and the Media on the propose tariff review in Abuja, said: “To provide a 24/7 service is not entirely in the AEDC’s domain because we are just a distribution company.
“ But if we want to put entire supply chain, we need like N43bn investment to be able to migrate to the level that our customers will enjoy (stable power supply)’’.
He, however, disclosed that Nigerians would be paying 35 per cent in the New Electricity Tariff Review, which will be effective on April 1, 2020.
The proposed tariff review, Mupwaya said it would guarantee sufficient power supply, metering, massive investments in the network and improve service to the customers.
The AEDC’s MD stated that government’s support on tariff will drop from 54% to 29%, leaving 71% for the customers, explaining that the current tariff was 46% because government support was 54%, bringing the total market remittance to 100%.
He said, out of the 100% expected revenue collection from customers, AEDC keeps only 25% of the total revenue collected.
Giving the breakdown of select planned investment in network per state, he said, Abuja requires N31.3 bn, Kogi N2.3 bn, Nasarawa N2.3 bn and Niger N5.5bn respectively.
Mupwaya said, a total of 160, 832 meters had so far been installed under the company’s mass metering programme and CAPMI, saying it has also successful metered 81, 533 customers under Meter Asset Provider (MAP).
Speaking on the 4-year metering plan, he said, the company has a target to rollout 170, 239 meters in 2019, 330,377 in 2020, 257,373 in 2021 and 109,302 in 2022, bringing the number to 867, 291 meters.
Mupwaya, however, dismissed the allegation of power load rejection, saying that the “regulated quantity contractually was 11.5% of National Generation but we are taking 13.5%, higher than MYTO allocation.”
He listed delay in government’s intervention to address sector gaps, non-payment of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) bills, non-cost reflective tariff, harassment of Disco staff by some MDAs (Barracks), and increased generation costs without corresponding increase in retail tariffs, as some of the challenges being faced by the company.
