….Plans to provide 24 hours supply to GRA residents
By Foster Obi
With a focus to progressively improve operations and deliver customer-centric services, Nigeria’s leading Electricity Distribution Company, Ikeja Electric Plc (IE), has unveiled an ultra-modern PTC Undertaking office in GRA Ikeja to provide customers with improved access to quality service.
The newly unveiled office is an upgraded facility designed to deliver positive experience to customers. It offers prompt attendance to clients’ queries with a highly effective Point-of-Sales self-service, fully automated Electronic Queue Management System (EQMS) and well-trained Executives Sales Representative.
Chief Executive Officer, Ikeja Electric, Dr. Anthony Youdeowei, while speaking at the commissioning recalled that the company in 2016 had promised to explore ways to improve supply, service and infrastructure for customers in Ikeja GRA.
He said: “The promise of providing dedicated and premium power to GRA is already materializing. Customers in this vicinity will no doubt feel the positive impact of this state-of-the art office which has come to complement our efforts to boost power supply in Ikeja GRA. As I speak with you, the quality of supply and service has improved tremendously as envisaged. Looking into the nearest future, we are working towards ensuring a 24 hour supply for residents of Ikeja GRA.”
He revealed that a dedicated team was created for prompt fault clearing and maintenance of Distribution Transformers, thereby reducing downtime and achieving optimization of installations. This according to him has also helped the company to sustain the efficiency required to boost service delivery in this community.
According to him, Ikeja Electric has achieved 95 percent metering deployment both on the Distribution transformers as well as for individual customers. He said the company had increased the momentum in meter deployment across IE’s network. Mr. Youdeowei expressed optimism that the exercise will further bridge the metering gap and evidently reduce the incidence of estimated billing.
“Let me also use this medium to debunk some of the misinformation in the public space that we sell meters for N100, 000. Please note that meters from Ikeja Electric are free and you do not have to pay for them. Based on business considerations, our strategy to metering is based on feeders and once it is the turn of your feeder, all customers on that feeder will be metered at no cost. I solicit the assistance of our friends from the media to help us cascade this news to the public and provide the clarity,” he clarified.
The commissioning was attended by the Group Managing Director, Sahara Power Group, Mr. Kola Adesina, Commander Area ‘F’, Ikeja, ACP Ibrahim Zungura, the GM, Lagos State Electricity Board, Lola Kasunmu, the representative of Commandant of the Ikeja Cantonment, representatives of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NECR), Ikeja GRA Residents Association as well as captains of Industries & Heads of Parastatals.
The DisCo also enumerated some of its ongoing projects and plans aimed at scaling up supply across our network, these include the Mushin 1x15MVA Injection Substation and the New Oworo 15 MVA Injection Sub-Station billed for commissioning by the end of October 2018.
It plans to replace 2 obsolete high voltage switchgears at Agege Injection Substation in the 1st week of November 2018 while it had flagged off the construction work on Transformer Repair Workshop for immediate repairs of failed distribution transformer and also set up a Preventive Maintenance Team to prevent failure of equipment and guarantee stable power supply.
According to IE, its series of projects and upgrading of facilities will translate to improved services across our six (6) business Units – Oshodi, Somolu, Abule-Egba, Ikorodu, Ikeja and Akowonjo. “This is in line with our commitment toward enriching lives by means of our quality service that guarantees customer’s satisfaction. We will not stop aiming for the best, so are poised to extend this upgrading to other facilities in our Undertakings,” the company noted.
