By Chris Ochayi

ABUJA: A Chinese company, Skyrun Meter Solution, said it has completed plans to establish an electricity smart-meter in the Free Trade Zone, FTZ, in Calabar, the Cross River State capital. This development was one of the fruitful results of several Memoranda of Understanding, MoUs, signed between the Ministry of Power and some Chinese companies since the successful privatisation of the power sector by the outgoing administration.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Amb. Godknows Igali, disclosed this while receiving the company’s management team in his office last week.  He expressed delight that establishing the metering company in Nigeria would enhance revenue generation for distribution companies thereby curtailing the incidence of estimated billing as being experienced by the electricity customers in many parts of the country.

Igali urged SkyRun, which has been in Nigeria for 10 years to collaborate with Distributions Companies, Discos, to meet their specifications as the Discos are distributors to the end users. He also directed the company to get appropriate license from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, and the Electricity Management Service for safety standard and specification as dictated by law.

He decried the situation where about 60 per cent of customers are not metered, noting that manufacturing meters in Nigeria will significantly close the metering gap and create employment   opportunities for the teaming youths, while also enabling investors re-coup their investment as planned.  He further revealed that this administration will give more incentives to local manufacturers, so as to encourage them to establish more companies for the production of meters in the country.

He expressed appreciation for the invaluable contribution of the Nigerian Embassy in China for wooing investors into the Nigerian power sector, saying that posterity will acknowledge their patriotism in this regard. He also commended the Nigeria – China Business Council, NCBC, for its efforts in establishing the meter company in Nigeria.  Earlier, the Nigerian Deputy Chief of Mission to China, Amb. Patrick Onadipe, said Skyrun Meter Solution are also manufacturers of water dispensers, fans, fridges and other home appliances.

Onadipe recalled that the company had earlier signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with the Ministry in January 2015, for the manufacturing of electricity smart meters in the country, adding that the visit to the Ministry is therefore to build on the gains already recorded in their relationship.  He said the plant would be commissioned in the last quarter of 2015 and that the company will collaborate with the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, as a test-run for the planned pilot study.

He also revealed that the company employed more than 500 indigenous workers on its site in Calabar, and is currently manufacturing a single- phase and three-phase smart meters, and would boost the revenue base of distribution companies in Nigeria