Aba ring-fenced area: BPE inaugurates committee to resolve issues after Geometric takeover

The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) says it has inaugurated an inter-agency committee to resolve critical regulatory and operational issues surrounding the handover of the Aba ring-fenced area to Aba Power Limited (APL)/Geometric.

Ibeh Chidi, head, public communications of BPE, said this in a recent statement.

The inauguration of the committee comes after the management of Geometric Power formally acquired the Aba ring-fenced area from Integrated Electricity Limited, a core investor in Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), thereby ending a nine-year legal tussle over the rightful owner of the project.

According to the statement, at the inauguration in Abuja, Alex Okoh, director-general of BPE, affirmed that after the handover, APL/Geometrics in collaboration with the EEDC commenced the transition and handover processes by setting up a joint transition committee.

He, however, noted that in the course of this, certain issues popped up, one of which was that the asset transfer agreement presumed that APL/Geometrics would generate and distribute power, which is not yet the case. 

He also alluded to the power allocation and tariff in the franchise area; the terms and conditions of EEDC’s vesting contract with the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET) did not envisage APL/Geometrics, which were other issues that cropped up.

Others were service level agreement with the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN); the provision and requirements of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) loan agreement and the resultant escrowed control of all EEDC bank accounts. 

According to him, they also included the centralised Information Technology (IT) Infrastructure for Metering and Meter Data Bases, billing and billing database, enterprise resource planning system and infrastructure and customer relationship management (CRM) system in the franchise area.

Okoh also cited the fact that EEDC has APL/Geometrics employees who are no longer accountable to EEDC for accessing and utilising their metering/billing ERP and CRM systems. 

The DG added that the continued commitment of the exited staff of EEDC under the control and management of APL/Geometrics in collecting revenue from postpaid customers for settlement of EEDC invoices from NBET and market operator (MO), TCN, was also an issue. 

Okoh stated that to resolve the issues amicably, EEDC in a letter to the BPE had requested the intervention of concerned government agencies hence the inauguration of the committee.

While charging members of the committee to discharge their mandate efficiently, Okoh said they were selected in recognition of their wide experience and knowledge of the subject matter. 

The committee cuts across critical stakeholders, including the BPE, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Company, CBN and TCN- the market operator (MO), is to conclude its assignment within 60 days. 

It is chaired by the Director, Energy at the BPE, Mallam Audu Uba Mohammed.

During the privatisation programme of the federal government in 2013, Interstate Electric had acquired 60 per cent of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) from the BPE under a share sale and purchase agreement (SSPA) between the BPE and Interstate with several other agreements signed with them.

Subsequently, the distribution licence was issued to EEDC over five south-east states, which area also included previously, and exclusively licensed Aba ring-fenced area granted to APL, without carving out the existing Aba Electricity Distribution Company (APL). 

On this basis, EEDC became the licensee in respect of the Enugu Distribution Area while APL remained the exclusive licensee of the Aba Ring-fenced area, creating a conflict between the two licences.

The conflict was resolved in 2016 with the signing of an agreement carving out the ring-fence from Enugu DISCO for Geometric/Aba Power Limited.