Samples of World Bank 3.2m meters in our lab for certification – NEMSA

By

Omowumi Hannah

The Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) has said samples of the 3.2 million meters under the World Bank Distribution Sector Reform Program (DISREP) are currently in its laboratory for testing and certification.

The NEMSA Managing Director, Tukur Tahir Aliyu, broke the news to reporters in Abuja on Thursday.

He said that no meter in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) will bypass the testing and certification process of the agency.

All these meters that are coming in, we will ensure they are tested and certified before they are allowed to be deployed. Those that are coming under the World Bank program, we are already in the process of certifying them.

“Those that are coming are in our labs now. They will be tested and certified in the country. It will not be possible for them to deploy uncertified meters,” he said.

The DISREP is targeted at supplying 3.2 million meters with 1.2 million meters in phase one, December 2024 and 1.3 million in the first quarter of 2025.

Tahir, who is also the Chief Electrical Inspector of the Federation, said the industry has programs targeted at bridging its metering gap.

According to him, in addition to the DISREP, is the Presidential Metering Initiative, which is aimed at supplying seven million meters in different phases.

He said the agency embarks on monthly safety performance rankings of the utility companies.

He stressed, “We do carry out safety performance audits of these utility companies to ensure that they are operating safely in terms of maintenance, operations of the networks, expansion of the networks, and so forth.”

Asked to give an insight into the findings of the latest audit, he said the agency discovered that a lot of the companies were not adhering to the approved safety procedures for the operation and maintenance of the network.

He said, consequently, NEMSA ensured that the utility companies have all safety manuals, where all the procedures and safety requirements are well defined.

He added that the agency also carried out audits of these utility companies to ensure that they are implementing the provisions of those safety manuals. Tahir revealed that the agency has audited about eight of the companies.

The Managing Director said NEMSA is now back on auditing the utility companies to ensure that they are implementing the regulations in the safety manuals.

Continuing, he said, “Some of the observations from the ones we have done so far, like we have done one or two generating plants.

“We have done one or two DisCos, and others.  We have seen that the training of their personnel on these procedures, on these safety requirements, has been lacking.”

The NEMSA boss said cash paucity is a major challenge in the industry, hindering utility companies from rehabilitating their ageing equipment.

He said it has also affected the electricity networks in the country.

Tahir was hopeful that as soon as the cash issue is resolved, there will be enough investment in the network for rehabilitation and replacement of ageing electrical materials and equipment in the network.

He explained that some of the technical glitches arise from the feeders at the transmission and distribution points.

He said the feeders that are meant to transfer bulk power from transmission to distribution, the 33 kV primary feeder lines, have been encumbered in so many ways by installing point load transformers and small transformers on the feeders.

He said although they are to carry bulk power from transmission to injection substation, when a  smaller transformers, 200 kVA, 100 kVA, 50 kVA, on those lines, each installation constitutes a fault location.

He said any tripping from one of such locations affects the feeder, and sometimes these trippings are translated up to transmission.

He said one of the agency’s major challenges is the issue of permanent office accommodation, calling for a permanent office accommodation.

The Chief Electrical Inspector of the Federation cited funding as another challenge for NEMSA.

He said, “Another major challenge is inadequate funding. Since the inception of the agency, we have been having this funding challenge where we are not able to make adequate provision of those facilities."

“Lack of that funding will lead us not to have adequate state-of-the-art test equipment that we use in our various statutory activities."

"That lack of funding is also affecting our provision of operational vehicles. Because when you carry out an inspection, it means you move from one location to the other."

“You have to go to those sites. And those movements are within the entire country. So you need mobility. You need operational vehicles to do that. “Another major challenge is the issue of the number of personnel. The technical personnel, for example.”