Bureau of Public Entreprises, BPE’s postponement of the opening of the bids for electricity distribution companies unbundled from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, offer more opportunities for prospective investors like Vigeo Power, which was shortlisted for the next round, to re-strategise to acquire some of the unbundled assets.

Vigeo, which submitted bids to acquire the 11 electricity distribution companies (discos), also participated in the PHCN bid for metering and billing management. The company emerged tops among the bidders in the evaluation of the combined technical and financial proposals.

It would be recalled that the company was the management operator for the National Pre-Payment Metering Programme, NPPMP, in the Benin Electricity Distribution Company, BEDC, covering Edo, Delta, Ondo and Ekiti States.

The company explained that “The programme was primarily targeted at reducing non-technical losses and improving customer satisfaction via improved customer service delivery. This entails the procurement, installation and management of prepaid meters in BEDC. The contract provides for the installation of 161,000 Pre-Paid Meters (PPMs) within 2 years and management of the vending operations until the operator’s investment in metering and vending infrastructure is fully repaid.”

“Again GUMCO emerged top with no less  impact, installing over 150,000 Prepaid Meters within two years, when the total Pre-paid metering installation in the whole 11 Distribution companies under the NPPMP was less than 500,000, that is 485,000 at the stoppage of investment deployment under the NPPMP. This is a feat unequalled in the annals of PHCN,” the statement added.

In addition, the company said it has continued to render technical support services to BEDC, Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IEDC) and other DISCOs especially in areas of Metering, Billing and Collection infrastructure development and management.

Established in 1999, Vigeo Power has extensive experience in the Nigerian electric distribution and downstream sector. It is managed by a team of indigenous and expatriate professionals with over 60 years cumulative experience in power and utilities project management.