April 09, (THEWILL) — The Bayelsa State Government has disclosed that in the next three weeks, Bayelsans will be told who will manage the Gas Turbine built by the Prosperity Administration.
Speaking on Tuesday in Yenagoa during a stakeholders meeting, Roseline Dressman, the Director General of Bayelsa State Electricity Regulatory Agency, maintained that electricity challenges facing the state will soon be a thing of the past, maintaining that the Gas Turbine built by the Prosperity Administration will solve the problem of epileptic power supply in the state.
Revealing that the state had suffered from very serious, distinct, specific problems when it comes to electricity supply, Dressman said that the state was happy to take over the electricity market.
Assuring that Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company will not be responsible for managing the new Gas Turbine, Dressman said, “I will assure you it’s not PHED that will handle it.”
Answering more questions from journalists, she said, “It’s not PHED. I can assure you that there will be another forum in the next, let me say, two to three weeks. By that time, everything will be clearer. Then I can answer that question even better.
“As I said in the forum, we have one responsibility. You give me service, I pay for the service. But in the case of electricity management, service is paid after it is received. Then it becomes a risky business, and most of the time, people don’t pay for services after receiving them.
He pledged with the Yenagoa residents to pay for the services. “So I am using this forum to beg on Bayelsans, please, dear Bayelsans, pay for your services. In that way, service can be provided better for you.”
She assured that the metropolis will be metered, declaring that “metering is a very important factor because when we estimate bills for consumers, they definitely are happy with it. So the best thing to happen is for the houses to be metered. If all the houses are metered, people won’t be complaining that my house got more bills than necessary.
“So, we will make sure you have electricity given to you, and we will make sure also that you pay your bills. We have set up a consumer support process, where everybody can come and tell us all their problems, if they have any. I’m just a phone call away. My colleagues are a phone call away. We have the internet system, and we created portals.
“In the next few days, consumers can even download the documents and download the apps and be able to, for example, complain about theft. It’s a serious matter, theft and vandalism. We don’t want our systems to be vandalised again.
“So we’re taking measures to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. So we are on our own path, we’re very committed. And we need also the public, being the consumer, to also show commitment by reporting vandalism when they see one, and by paying their bills when they get them.”
Also speaking, Barrister Austin Adigio, Chairman Bayelsa Electricity Regulatory Commission, disclosed that the agency will have the responsibility of regulating the whole sector adding that “we will need to have more interactions like this to get perspectives from various sectors and players, including the consumers, to arrive at a common ground for us to come up with policies that will address all the problems of the value chain and get the best of the new electricity market that is upon us.
He said that metering policy is a very important aspect of what the agency will be doing as regulators, adding that the law that established his agency has abrogated estimated billing.
“And so customers and consumers are mandated to have meters and therefore regulate their consumption and pay accordingly for the protection of customers or consumers. Once this estimated billing is removed completely, then you are paying for what you consume, and by that you are protected, by that you are satisfied with what you are consuming, and then pay an adequate and effective tariff to get the business on a sustainable level, and that is essentially what we are doing.”
Adigio disclosed that “by the time we come on full stream, the concerns of the customers will be taken care of, the concerns of the GENCOs are taken care of, the concerns of the distribution companies is taken care of and once we are all happy, then the business can thrive and Bayelsa will be an industrial hub in the very near future.”
He assured that there will be coordination and alignment between all the producers and the value chain, adding that there will be that alignment with all the players in the sector to see that the best services are given to the consumers.
“And so there is not going to be a problem. We are all working; the producers and the value chain are all working together. There is that alignment at all times, and then we will get to a good place where there will be no confusion as to who takes the lead.
“Be rest assured that the electricity company will provide a meter. New meters are coming as a matter of fact. It is part of the component of the new turbine that is coming. Consumers will be metered adequately so that you can pay an efficient and affordable tariff and have sustainable power for whatever you want to use power for.
“60 megawatts is huge. It will take beyond the Yenagoa metropolis and the environs. And therefore, for that business to be running, we will have effective metering so that collections will be easy for the business to continue.”
Speaking earlier, Engineer Obinna Okeke, Chief Strategy Officer of Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company, stated that there is a need to solve the liquidity issue, “and every other thing will fall into place.
Maintaining that PEHD has scrapped the estimated billing system, he disclosed that it now uses a capping system, which simply is an average of consumption in a particular area, particularly for PPM customers, since that is measurable.
“And what that has now solved is the issue of maybe overestimation or underestimation. So there is a fixed methodology. So if the DISCO now feels it’s being shortchanged by that, they will be forced to meter other customers.
“The gas turbine is a generating company. We’re a distribution company. We would need to have discussions with them and see areas where we can collaborate.”
Recall that President Bola Tinubu will be coming to commission the Gas Turbine on the 10th of this month, but as at the time of filing in this report, Bayelsans are yet to know who will wholly be in charge of the Gas Turbine and whether there will be a meter to checkmate excesses or not.
Amos Okioma is a Correspondent at THEWILL
