|
Listen to article
|
Nigeria’s electricity sector regulator for Abia State has held up Aba Power as the standard against which the country’s other distribution companies should be measured, following an inspection visit to the facilities of its parent company, Geometric Power Group.
Emeka Onyegbule, chairman and chief executive of the Abia State Electricity Regulatory Commission, led a delegation to Geometric Power’s headquarters in the Osisioma Industrial Layout and emerged with an unambiguous verdict. “This is the benchmark for the rest of Nigeria,” he said.
Aba Power began supplying electricity to nine of Abia State’s 17 local government areas roughly three years ago, taking over a territory that had long suffered the chronic unreliability that defines power supply across much of the country. Since then, the company has constructed four new substations, refurbished three others inherited from the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria, laid more than 150 kilometres of overhead lines, and distributed smart meters to over 90 percent of its customer base at no cost to consumers.
The metering push gathered pace last year when the company set a target of installing 100,000 smart meters within 2025 through a vendor financing arrangement. By December, it had exceeded that figure, deploying more than 122,000 units. “Cynics stated that it’s not possible for a private firm to do so, but we not only met the target, but smashed it,” said Engr Akpata, who heads the company’s engineering division.
Aba Power Managing Director Ugo Opiegbe told the visiting regulators the company had made substantial investments ahead of its formal takeover of the Aba Ring-Fenced Area in 2022, with the deliberate aim of cutting aggregate technical, commercial and collection losses — the core metric against which distribution companies were evaluated during Nigeria’s privatization of the power sector.
“We are not just an electricity distribution company, but an integrated power system,” Opiegbe said. “Our goal is to make Aba the first place in West Africa where an industrialist never has to worry about a flicker of a lightbulb.”
Industry observers have pointed to a stretch late last year when residents of Aba experienced more than two consecutive months of uninterrupted electricity supply — an occurrence rare enough to draw national attention.
Cliff Eneh, a former senior official with the defunct National Electric Power Authority who also worked with Texas Power and Light in the United States, attributed the consistency to the company’s operational model. The run ended only when a gas supply shortfall from Geometric Power’s energy partner disrupted generation, Eneh said.
Read also: Abia Power Outages Lessen: Otti Credits Geometric Power Plant
The Geometric Power Plant, which currently generates 188 megawatts, is now under consideration for expansion to 500 megawatts, according to the plant’s managing director, Ben Caven. Caven holds a singular distinction in the history of Nigeria’s power sector, having served at different points as executive director for engineering, generation and transmission under the old NEPA structure. He offered no timeline for the proposed expansion but said it was being planned in anticipation of rising electricity demand across Abia State.
Sources close to the company indicated that authorities from states outside Abia have opened discussions with Aba Power about drawing electricity supply from its embedded generation plant, attracted by the reliability, quality and pricing of its output. The company declined to confirm or elaborate on those talks.
Onyegbule said the commission would work directly with Geometric Power to address the gas supply constraints that disrupted service late last year. “We are pledging today to collaborate with the Geometric Power Group for an uninterrupted gas supply, and to partner with it to expand capacity,” he said, describing the company as one that “understands the assignment.”
The visit drew comment from figures within Nigeria’s electricity regulatory community. Handley Blu-Jack, a former general manager at the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, said the commission’s decision to align with Geometric Power reflected a sound understanding of its mandate. “There is a lot the nation can learn from the unfolding power sector in Abia State,” he said.
Read more: Grid Synchronization: Geometric Power Starts Full Operation
Alphonsus Udeigbo, president general of the Abia Amalgamated Traders Association, welcomed the regulatory commitment as consistent with Governor Alex Otti’s stated ambition to place Abia among the country’s four most economically competitive states.
Onyegbule was accompanied on the inspection by two senior commission officials: Iguwo Ukwu, executive director for legal and regulatory affairs, and Iheanyi Weze, executive director of technical affairs.
Nigeria’s 11 other electricity distribution companies have faced persistent criticism over metering gaps, estimated billing disputes, and unreliable supply. The sector was privatized in 2013 but has struggled to attract the investment needed to rehabilitate ageing infrastructure inherited from the state-owned utility.
