Power Crisis: End Blame Game Now, NERC Tells DISCOs, TCN

The management of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has advised electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs), to deploy modern technologies and equipment that would guarantee network stability in order to improve the quality of electricity supply to the teeming consumers.
The Chairman of NERC, Prof James Momoh, who gave the advice during a facility tour of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), in Abuja, told the management of the company to concentrate more on the deployment of emerging technology in order to ensure customer satisfaction.
Momoh also challenged key stakeholders in the power sector, especially that between the DISCOs and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), to end the blame game, which according to him has impacted the sector negatively.
The NERC boss while responding to a presentation by the Managing Director of AEDC, Engr. Ernest Mupwaya, said, “I have seen everything, one, what I want to say is sustainability, that what he has started must be sustained. We cannot afford to solve old problems with old technologies and expect change. Or new problems with old technologies and expect change.
“The growing sector called NESI, in Nigeria is becoming a new challenge. And unless we need to think out of the box, we cannot handle it. And I believe what I have heard this afternoon, is daily efforts by AEDC to address the new challenge, whether it is in a short term, whether it is in the medium-term or in a long term, using out-of-the-box critical thinking.
“And they are many other DISCOs in the country doing just what it is doing but today is AEDC day, and I must concentrate on AEDC. For AEDC, you have shown that our power sector will very soon compete with world-class Distribution Companies anywhere.
Earlier, the Managing Director of AEDC, Engr. Ernest Mupwaya, had through his presentation, acquainted the management of the regulatory agency with the challenges the company was facing in the areas of ATC/C losses, reconfiguration of the network, and revenue collections, especially from the unmetered customers.
While revealing the numbers of customers metered under the CAPMI and MAP, Mupwaya, however, commended the Federal Government’s efforts over the ongoing National Mass Metering Programme, which according to him, would usher in a lot of stability in the system.