ABUJA: A Chinese company, Skyrun Meter Solution, said it has completed
plans to establish an electricity smart-meter in the Free Trade Zone, FTZ, in
Calabar, the Cross River State capital. This development was one of the
fruitful results of several Memoranda of Understanding, MoUs, signed between
the Ministry of Power and some Chinese companies since the successful
privatisation of the power sector by the outgoing administration.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Amb. Godknows Igali,
disclosed this while receiving the company’s management team in his office last
week. He expressed delight that establishing the metering company in
Nigeria would enhance revenue generation for distribution companies thereby
curtailing the incidence of estimated billing as being experienced by the
electricity customers in many parts of the country.
Igali urged SkyRun, which has been in Nigeria for 10 years to
collaborate with Distributions Companies, Discos, to meet their specifications
as the Discos are distributors to the end users. He also directed the company
to get appropriate license from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission,
NERC, and the Electricity Management Service for safety standard and
specification as dictated by law.
He decried the situation where about 60 per cent of customers are not
metered, noting that manufacturing meters in Nigeria will significantly close
the metering gap and create employment opportunities for the teaming
youths, while also enabling investors re-coup their investment as
planned. He further revealed that this administration will give more
incentives to local manufacturers, so as to encourage them to establish more
companies for the production of meters in the country.
He expressed appreciation for the invaluable contribution of the
Nigerian Embassy in China for wooing investors into the Nigerian power sector,
saying that posterity will acknowledge their patriotism in this regard. He also
commended the Nigeria – China Business Council, NCBC, for its efforts in
establishing the meter company in Nigeria. Earlier, the Nigerian Deputy
Chief of Mission to China, Amb. Patrick Onadipe, said Skyrun Meter Solution are
also manufacturers of water dispensers, fans, fridges and other home
appliances.
Onadipe recalled that the company had earlier signed a Memorandum of
Understanding, MoU, with the Ministry in January 2015, for the manufacturing of
electricity smart meters in the country, adding that the visit to the Ministry
is therefore to build on the gains already recorded in their
relationship. He said the plant would be commissioned in the last quarter
of 2015 and that the company will collaborate with the Enugu Electricity
Distribution Company, as a test-run for the planned pilot study.
He also revealed that the company employed more than 500 indigenous
workers on its site in Calabar, and is currently manufacturing a single- phase
and three-phase smart meters, and would boost the revenue base of distribution
companies in Nigeria
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