13th September, 2012
There were indications that Nigeria’s Vice President, Namadi Sambo would today announce the firms that would take over the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN.
The PHCN is being privatized to enhance efficiency in electricity supply.
Fifty-four firms had submitted bids for the distribution companies unbundled from PHCN out of which 25 were shortlisted.
According to reports, the National Council on Privatisation would meet today to ratify the report of evaluation of the technical bids before Sambo would announce the firms.
Among the bidders are OANDO Consortium; Vigeo Power Consortium; Rockson Engineering Company Limited; Gumco; Skipper Nigeria Limited; Interstate Electrics Limited; Southern Electricity Distribution Company and Eastern Electric Nigeria Limited.
Others are Integrated Energy Distribution & Marketing Limited. Also included are SEPCO-Pacific Energy Consortium; Electric Utilities Nigeria; Honeywell Energy Resources International Limited; Western Consortium; Vigeo Holdings, African Corporation AFC & CESC Consortium; Masters Energy Oil & Gas Limited; and 4Power Consortium.
Meanwhile, PHCN says it would soon publish names of its debtors in the national dailies if they fail to pay their debts amounting to N16 billion.
Malam Idris Mohammed, Managing Director of the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, said this during the First Customers Consultative Council meeting on Wednesday in Kaduna.
He expressed regret that the company had such a huge outstanding debt with electricity consumers despite all efforts to ensure regular and effective debt collection.
The managing director, who said the present debt profile of N16 billion was inimical to the company’s corporate survival, urged consumers to settle their electricity bills to ensure good service delivery at all times.
Mohammed said more than 50,000 pre-paid meters had been distributed to customers in Kaduna metropolis, Samaru and Zaria Business Units.
He said more than 3,500 special pre-paid meters had been deployed to Sokoto State to cater for both Gwiwa and Marina Business Units under the Federal Government’s Pilot Programme.
“This special Federal Government project will promote customer satisfaction and revenue improvement,” the managing director said.
Mohammed said that the company would soon send prepaid meters to Zamfara, Katsina, Kebbi and other states to guarantee accurate billing of customers.
He expressed the hope that the initiative would help to reduce friction between customers and marketers which often resulted to disconnection.
According to him, the company has purchased more than 50 transformers to replace ageing ones, while some injection sub-stations have been completed.
Mr Linus Alhassan, the Zonal Chairman of the Customers Consultative Council, urged various communities to set up monitoring teams to guard PHCN installations, saying the activities of vandals had continued to increase daily.
He noted that there was a dearth of PHCN equipment in the store which had made replacement of stolen ones difficult, saying adequate security of PHCN cables and other materials would enable customers to enjoy adequate power supply.
Malam Umar Muhammed, a customer from Kano Business Unit, commended the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company for engaging electricity consumers through the Customers Consultative Council meeting.
He expressed the hope that the steps taken by the company would improve power generation across the zone.