Home Business “We are working on a plan to metre all our customers” (A speech delivered by IKDC boss, Dr. Anthony Youdeowei, at the unveiling of Ikeja Electricity’s PTC undertaking office, Ikeja.)
Business - October 26, 2018

“We are working on a plan to metre all our customers” (A speech delivered by IKDC boss, Dr. Anthony Youdeowei, at the unveiling of Ikeja Electricity’s PTC undertaking office, Ikeja.)

Anthony Youdeowei.

The Chief Executive Officer, Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKDC), Dr. Anthony Youdeowei, says the electricity distribution company is working on a structured plan that will ensure that all its customers are metered in no distant time.

Dr. Youdeowei said this in a speech he delivered on Monday, at the unveiling of IKDC’s PTC undertaking office at Ikeja.

Below is the full speech:

Hon. Minister for Power, Mr. Babatunde Raji-Fashola

Lagos State Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources Mr. Olawale Oluwo

Group Managing Director, Sahara Power Group, Mr. Kola Adesina

Captains of Industries & Heads of Parastatals

Gentlemen of the Press

My Colleagues

Ladies & Gentlemen

On behalf of the management and staff of Ikeja Electric (Plc.), it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to this epoch-making occasion that gives you a glimpse into our journey for the future and defines a new phase in the operations of Ikeja Electric, particularly for our customers in Ikeja GRA and environs.

As a customer centric corporate organization, Ikeja Electric has consistently pushed boundaries in the energy sector to deliver improved services that meet the yearnings of our customers. It is noteworthy to state that our purposeful convergence here to unveil our ultra-modern Ikeja GRA PTC Undertaking Office further lends credence to our commitment towards providing exceptional services to our customers.

I recall that in 2016, we promised the residents of Ikeja GRA that we will explore ways to improving the quality of supply, service and infrastructure to this community and today, I am delighted to announce to you that promise of providing dedicated and premium power to GRA is materializing.

As I speak with you, the quality of supply and service has improved tremendously as envisaged. Residents of GRA now enjoy over 18 hours of supply on a daily basis. Beyond that, we have also achieved 95 percent metering deployment both on the Distribution transformers as well as for individual customers. Hopefully, in a very short while, we should be able to close the gap.

In addition, we have created a dedicated team for prompt fault clearing and maintenance of Distribution Transformers, thereby reducing downtime and achieving optimization of our installations. This has also helped us sustain the efficiency required to boost service delivery in this community.

The commissioning of this ultra-modern facility, which was demolished and reconstructed, is a noteworthy development and is in line with our commitment to redefine customer experience. It is a representation of the new phase of IE which will be replicated across all the service points in our network. The attendant benefits of this upgrade is that we are much more responsive and closer to our customers.

Looking into the nearest future, we are working towards ensuring a 24 hour supply for residents of Ikeja GRA and as you are aware that since this will be a premium service, it will attract a slightly different tariff which will be in line with the regulations of NERC. We are currently engaging with the residents to ensure that we bring this to fruition.

The upgraded PTC undertaking offers customers a highly effective Point-of-Sales self-service, prompt attendance to queries of customers with the fully automated Electronic Queue Management System (EQMS) with the well-trained Executives Sales Representative to attend to clients. Customers in this vicinity will no doubt feel the positive impact of this state-of-the art office which has come to complement our efforts to boost power supply in Ikeja GRA.

As you are aware, we recently increased the momentum in the deployment of meters across our network and I am quite optimistic that this exercise will further bridge the metering gap and inadvertently reduce the incidence of estimated billing. Let me also use this medium to debunk some of the misinformation in the public space that we sell meters for N100,000. Please note that meters from Ikeja Electric are free and you do not have to pay for them. Based on business considerations, our strategy to metering is based on feeders and once it is the turn of your feeder, all customers on that feeder will be metered at no cost. I solicit the assistance of our friends from the media to help us cascade this news to the public and provide the clarity.

To scale up supply across our network, we have several ongoing projects aimed at ensuring our customers get adequate energy supply as required. To achieve this, we will commissioning Mushin 1x15MVA Injection Substation and the New Oworo 15 MVA Injection Sub-Station by the end of October 2018.

In similar vein, we are going to replace 2 obsolete high voltage switchgears at Agege Injection Substation in the 1st week of November 2018. We also flagged off the construction work on Transformer Repair Workshop for immediate repairs of failed distribution transformers.  In addition, we have set up a Preventive Maintenance Team to prevent failure of equipment and guarantee stable power supply.

This series of projects and upgrading of facilities will translate to improved services across our six (6) business Units – Oshodi, Somolu, Abule-Egba, Ikorodu, Ikeja and Akowonjo. This is in line with our commitment toward enriching the lives by means of our quality service that guarantees customer’s satisfaction. We will not stop aiming for the best, so are poised to extend this upgrading to other facilities in our Undertakings.

I also want to use this opportunity to thank our stakeholders, Community Development Associations (CDAs), Community Development Committees (CDCs) as well as the security Agencies for supporting our efforts to curb vandalization of installations and other illegalities that hinder development. I appeal to you not to relent on your efforts as the spate is recent times has become a worrisome development.

Permit me to also commend our regulators, our partners, agents and other stakeholders for the contribution towards driving the sector forward. Despite all odds, I believe we can surmount the challenges and build the desired future for the energy sector.

I thank you all for taking time out to share this moment with us. God bless.

Anthony Youdeowei (PhD)

CEO, Ikeja Electric Plc.

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