Economy
Stakeholders Urge NERC, EEDC to Facilitate Installation of Prepaid Meters
Stakeholders in the electricity industry in the South-East have urged the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) to facilitate installation of prepaid meters in homes..
The stakeholders gave the advice in Enugu on Friday at the NERC Stakeholders Engagement on Consultation on the Review of the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP).
The stakeholders were of the view that the electricity DisCos must be technically and financially prepared to get all customers metered within limited time to check extortion and disagreements emanating from estimated billing system.
Mr David Emeson, a customer living within Agui Road in Enugu, said that most time due to limited technical and financial abilities, the DisCos could not meet the target of metering customers within the 10 days duration when applied for.
“Whether free-of-charge or pay-and-get-reimbursed prepaid meter installation, it should be done on time and not putting who wants to get out of estimated billing system in more months or years in estimated billing trap,’’ Emeson said.
Mr Ben Muotuanya, a resident of Achara Layout in Enugu, lauded EEDC for the improvement in supply but noted that other technical and meter provision services had remained relatively low.
Muotuanya said that the NERC should ensure that EEDC did the right thing always by ensuring customers complained less by putting all into prepaid meter system.
Mr Paulinus Nwanakwu, a resident of Emene, complained that people in Emene had applied for NMMP prepaid meters but they were told that it was done in different designated areas and it would soon get to his community.
Nwanakwu noted that the issue of estimated billing system had been the greatest undoing of residents of Emene community, especially for artisans that needed the daily electricity supply for their businesses.
Prof. Frank Okafor, Commissioner in-charge of Engineering and Performance Monitoring in NERC, said that the review of the NMMP programme was meant to elicit complaints and correct grey areas in the distribution of the government’s free prepaid meters.
Okafor noted that the Federal Government initiated free NMMP metering to close the metering gap in the country.
He said that 92,000 electricity customers within South-East had been provided with prepaid meters in the “Phase 0” of the NMMP programme.
“The Federal Government is about to start the next phase (Phase 1) after the “Phase 0” with over three million prepaid meters expected to be distributed to electricity customers throughout the country,” he said. (NAN)
The Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) continued its bullish trend on Wednesday, gaining N183 billion.
Accordingly, the market capitalisation, which opened at N59.532 trillion, gained N184 billion or 0.31 per cent to close at N59.715 trillion.
The All-Share Index also added 0.31 per cent or 303 points, to settle at 98,509.
68, against 98,206. 97 recorded on Tuesday.Consequently, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return increased to 31.
74 per cent.Gains in Aradel Holdings, Zenith Bank, United Bank For Africa(UBA), Oando Plc, Nigerian Breweries among other advanced equities drove the market performance up.
Market breadth closed positive with 34 gainers and 17 losers.
On the gainers’ chart, Africa Prudential, Conoil and RT Briscoe led by 10 per cent each to close at N14.30, N352 and N2.42 per share, respectively.
Golden Guinea Breweries followed by 9.95 per cent to close at N7.18, while NEM Insurance rose by 9.74 per cent to close at N10.70 per share.
On the other hand, Julius Berger led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent to close at N155.25, Secure Electronic Technology Plc trailed by 9.52 per cent to close at 57k per share.
Multiverse lost 7.63 per cent to close at N5.45, Haldane McCall dropped 6.07 per cent to close at N4.95 and Honeywell Flour shed 5.62 per cent to close at N4.70 per share.
Analysis of the market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 49.44 per cent.
A total of 320.10 million shares valued at N6.48 billion were exchanged in 7,943 deals, compared with 939.41 million shares valued at N12.81billion traded in 9,098 deals posted in the previous session.
Meanwhile, ETranzact led the activity chart in volume with 70.27 million shares, while Aradel led in value of deals worth N1.22 billion.(NAN)
The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the Yuan, weakened 22 pips to 7.1870 against the dollar on Monday.This is according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.In China’s spot foreign exchange market, the Yuan is allowed to rise or fall by two per cent from the central parity rate each trading day.
The central parity rate of the Yuan against the dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day. (Xinhua/NAN)
Arewa Youths Initiative for Energy Reforms (AYIFER), has urged Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) to do everything possible to bring Kaduna Refinery back into operation.
National Coordinator of the group, Mr Bashir Al’Amin, stated this in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja.
Al’Amin specifically called on the Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Mallam Mele Kyari, to do all within his powers to rejuvenate the refinery and bring it up to global standard.
He said that having delivered the Port Harcourt refinery, coupled with the establishment of Dangote Refinery in Lagos, attention should be shifted to Kaduna refinery for easy spread of petroleum products.
“We are calling on Malam Mele Kyari to expedite action on Kaduna refinery so we can be at par with other regions in the country.
“We equally beg the NNPCL to do professional work in rehabilitating the old refinery and deliver a standard and functional petrochemical refinery and not a blending plant.
“Kyari should resist any temptation that could make him do something that can jeopardise his good image,” he said.
Al’Amin said that since the extinction of groundnut pyramid and textiles in Kano State as well as PAN in Kaduna State and with the Kaduna refinery getting moribund, a lot of youths had lost their jobs.
According to him, all their hopes in the north are tied to the legacy refinery, expressing the hope that God would use Kyari to deliver it well and on time.
He said that the group was solidly behind NNPCL in prayer and would be ready to celebrate the company if its expectations were met. (NAN)
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