Yemisi Izuora
Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Plc (PHED), has submitted its five-year Performance Improvement Plans (PIP) for the period of 2020 – 2024 to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
In developing this plan, PHED’s performance in the last five years of operations was reviewed and all the constraints that led to non-performance were identified and evaluated.
The Disco states in the document that it has embarked on “key objectives of efficiently managing the operations, metering all customers, rehabilitating and modernising the existing distribution system, expanding the electrical network to provide reliable power to new customers, achieving the key performance targets, achieving commercial viability for the company and improving service delivery to the customers.”
The plan also envisages doubling the customer base leading to installation of more than 800,000 electricity meters through Meter Asset Provider (MAP).
PHED’s five-year performance plan states: “Being mindful of the existing state of 33kV and 11kV network that is hampering smooth flow of energy, PHED has decided to spend 67 per cent of its network and systems capex on 33kV network projects (20.8%), 33/11kV injection substations (19.5%) and 11kV network projects (6.2%) besides investing 32.3% in 33/11/0.415 distribution transformers, 3.4 B (5.5%) on AB cabling of LT network. Also on IT intervention 9.8 B for SCADA and other automation implementation is provisioned.”
The success of this plan, however, hinges on a tariff that is reflective of both capital expenditure and operating costs.
According to the PIP, “with this capex and the implementation plan monitoring, PHED aims to reduce its ATC&C losses from 61.3 per cent in the year 2019 to 21 per cent in the year 2024.”
“It is PHED’s expectation that at the end of the PIP review, PHED will get a tariff structure that will support this performance based programme to bring about its transformation and turnaround,” stated the document detailing the strategy.