Chinedum Elekwachi
FirstPower Electricity Distribution Company Limited has reassured its preparedness to give Anambra State world-class services in the energy sector, that would transform provision of power in Nigerian.
Managing Director, Okechukwu Okafor gave the assurance during an interview shortly after receiving the license from Anambra State Electricity Regulatory Commission (ASERC).
Recall that recently, the company was issued license to provide power in Anambra State, taking the responsibility away from its parent company, Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC).
Okafor regretted consumers’ negative perspectives of the power sector, assuring that such narratives would soon change, including focusing on the customers who he described as platform for the success of the firm.
He said, “This is a landmark event and we at First Power have been issued a license.
“We have been here for about a couple of months before the inauguration of the commission because we are sensitive to the legislation that backed the existence of the commission and we knew it was coming and we have been on ground.
“So what happened today was formalization of our presence and letting all the stakeholders know this is no longer EEDC, there is now First Power which is an independent company in charge of distribution of power in Anambra State.
Working with commission
“We will be working with the commission and various industrial groups. You know electricity affects all aspects of our lives.
“We will have to get down to the grassroot too because some of the actions of the electricity distribution companies are not understood by people in the grassroot.
“So we are also partnering with the media to ensure that all our activities are known to the people. We are all Ndi Anambra and we are seriously committed to her progress and changes especially in power sector.
“All the perspectives of the people, looking at the power sector as exploitative, extorting and all other frustration, we will change all that narrative and we have started.
“We are focusing on having the customer as the platform for our success and so the customer has to be happy.
“But most of the customers are currently not happy because they do not understand. But when there is an understanding between the company, the government and the people, everyone will be happy. We plan to set a standard for the whole country.”
Reacting on metering of consumers, FirstPower MD said: “Truth is that in what they call estimated bill, just like the word goes, there might be variations, plus or minus. It might be in favour of the customer or the company.
“In that, the distribution company is only billing what it has received from the transformer, and in the cases of power theft, which are the end of the day innocent people bear the brunt.
“But our focus is to get everybody metered, and getting everybody metered is not a small task.
Huge sums needed
“It involves a lot of money, and the federal government has been supportive, the world Bank has also been supportive and we expect the state government and the private sector to get involved too.
“Because if you don’t get everybody metered, people cannot account for the energy they are consuming and somebody somewhere will be complaining and we ourselves will suffer a lot of loses.
“We take care of TCN here, when power is given to us, we pay immediately and at the end, we lose most of the energy coming to us, so that is why we want to carry everyone along.
“We plan to make a whole lot of impact in the power industry. If not in the whole of Nigeria, then it will be in the South East and we will set a standard for others.
“We are commencing a mass metering project, and by next week, you will see our people in some feeders and we have another major metering project starting in January and before the end of 2027, we will have a significant change in the landscape.”
