Uche Usim, Abuja
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the implementation of the agreement which the Federal Government signed with Siemens for the resolution of challenges in the power sector will take off in December.
The Director-General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Alex Okoh, gave the confirmation recently in Abuja at a two-day workshop tagged “Meter Data Management Solution”.
The event was facilitated by the BPE to provide a forum for Siemens to interface with Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOS), Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) with the aim of getting all parties acquainted with the implementation plan as well as ensuring that the peculiarities of every party are addressed in the roadmap implementation.
Speaking at the workshop, the BPE boss, who was represented by the Director, Energy Department, Mr. Yunana Malo, said the event was to solve the protracted challenges that have stunted the growth of the power sector.
He added that the implementation agreement with Siemens was for the unveiling of a road map for the resolution of challenges in the power sector with specific attention to priority projects.
In his remarks at the event, Mr. Martin Kuhlmann, Sales Support Professional, Smart Metering, Siemens South Africa, stated that the implementation of the roadmap is designed to eradicate estimated billing system and encourage metering across the country, including Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) of government. With this, he expressed confidence that some of the gaps currently existing in the power sector would be sufficiently addressed.
The key areas featured in the workshop are the basic principles of meter data management, assessment of existing meters and the advantages of the solutions being proposed by Siemens.