Uche Cecil Izuora
The Chairman of the Abia State Electricity Regulatory Commission (ASERA), Engineer Emeka Onyegbule, has said that Aba Power, Nigeria’s newest electricity distribution company, is the standard by which the other 11 distribution firms in the country will be judged.
Onyegbule, made the remarks after inspecting the facilities of the Geometric Power Group, the Aba Power parent company, and its leaders.
“I came here with my team to see if the reality matched the reports we have been getting about this integrated power group, and I must say I am profoundly impressed”, declared Engr Onyegbule who is also the ASERA Chief Executive Officer.
“The APLE engineering team deserves a standing ovation for the state-of-the-art network infrastructure it has provided.
“This is the benchmark for the rest of Nigeria”.
Aba Power, which took over electricity supply in nine of the 17 local government areas (LGAs) in Abia State only about three years ago, has built four new substations, refurbished three it inherited from the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), constructed over 150 kilometres of overhead wires, as well provided over 90% of its customers with free smart meters.
According to Engr Cliff Eneh, a former senior manager with the defunct National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), who also used to work for Texas Power and Light in the United States, Aba Power is Nigeria’s most reliable utility because of its constant electricity supply which made Aba people experience regular power for over two months towards the end of last year.
“The supply would have remained unbroken to this day if not for the shortage in gas supply from its partner”, Eneh told journalists in Lagos.
The ASERA chairman, who listened carefully to Geometric Power leaders, noted that “in Geometric Power we have found a partner that understands the assignment.
“We are pledging today to collaborate with the Geometric Power Group for an uninterrupted gas supply, and to partner with it to expand capacity”.
The Geometric Power Plant (GPAL) Managing Director, Engr. Ben Caven who is the only person in NEPA’s history to hold at different times the position of Executive Director for Engineering, Executive Director for Generation and Executive Director for Transmission, explained that the company is considering expanding the plant’s capacity from 188 megawatts to 500MW, in anticipation of continued growth of the Abia State power demands.
Though the power engineering veteran gave no details, some sources near the company hinted that some governments outside Abia State are in discussion with Aba Power to supply them electricity from its embedded power plant because of its power reliability, quality, and affordable cost.
Earlier, the Aba Power Managing Director, Ugo Opiegbe, had told Engr Onyegbule, a former top executive with the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in Abuja: “What you see here is the realization of a decades-long vision.
“We are not just an electricity distribution company, but an integrated power system.
“Our goal is to make Aba the first place in West Africa where an industrialist never has to worry about a flicker of a lightbulb”.
“We came prepared and have made a lot of investments ahead of the takeover of the Aba Ring Fenced Area in 2022.
“Those investments were targeted at reducing the ATC&C losses, which was the basis of the privatization of the distribution companies by the Federal Government.
Engr Akpata, head of the engineering team at Aba Power, informed the visiting regulatory officials that when the company launched a campaign last year to supply 100,000 smart meters in 2025 costing several tens of billions of naira through a vendor financing arrangement “because we are the only creditworthy power utility in the country, cynics stated that it’s not possible for a private firm to do so, but we not only met the target, but smashed it; we installed over 122,000 smart meters by the end of December.
“Across the Aba Ring-fenced Area, we have replaced estimated billing with automated precision”.
Meanwhile, Aba stakeholders have welcomed ASERA’s pledge to work closely with Geometric Power to deepen economic activity in the foremost industrial city.
In a statement this afternoon, the President General of the Abia Amalgamated Traders Association, Chief Alphonsus Udeigbo, described the pledge as “consistent with the vision and commitment of the Governor Alex Otti administration to make Abia one of the four most economically competitive states in the country in the not too distant future.
“We are on the right track”.
Handley Blu-Jack, a former NERC General Manager, said in a telephone interview that “by choding to work closely with Geometric Power, the newly established Abia Electricity Regulatory Commission has shown an impressive understanding that its core mandate is to protect the interests of all stakeholders, including electricity consumers and those in the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) which will result in a thriving electricity sector for the benefit of all in society.
“It is wrong for any regulator to emphasize the negative rather than the positive in a sector because the consequences won’t be pleasant.
“There is a lot the nation can learn from the unfolding power sector in Abia State”.
The ASERA chairman was accompanied during the visit to the Geometric Power headquarters in the Osisioma Industrial Layout by ASARA’s Executive Director in charge of Legal and Regulatory Affairs, Iguwo Ukwu, and the Executive Director of Technical Affairs, Iheanyi Weze.