Jos DisCo to inject N7.2b in network expansion, reinforcement

By Kingsley Chukwuka

The Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JED), is poised to invest N7.2 billion in network expansion and reinforcement of services for effect delivery of energy supply to it’s teaming customers across it’s franchise States, the Managing Director JED, Engr. Hashim Bakori, has said.

Bakori said the effort will boost the quality of energy supply in Benue, Bauchi, Gombe and Plateau States.

He disclosed this Thursday in Jos, during the Launch of the Company’s Corporate Strategic Vision, Mission and Core Values aimed to reposition service delivery with renewed vigor.

“It is our hope that at the end of these investments, power supply within our franchise States will become so qualitatively reliable to the envy of all”, he said.

Bakori however pointed out that with so much efforts put in by the new management JED, vandals and energy thieves still remain a challenge to the company.

“Despite these efforts, the company is currently bedeviled by some man-made challenges. These challenges range from vandalism and theft of our installations, energy theft to customers huge indebtedness to the company.

“In 2021 alone, Vandals and thieves have torched about 200 Distribution Transformers, armored cables, copper earth wires, transformer oil, feeder pillar copper bars, several spans of aluminum conductors, line insulators etc”, he said.

Also speaking at the new plan for JED service delivery, the Chief Commercial Officer, Engr. Mansir Nakande, said to achieve the desired level of reliable power supply, each of the 11 DisCos developed a 5-year Performance Improvement Plan (PIP), which was reviewed and approved by Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), on 29th April 2021.

Nakande said the PIP plan for 5 years is put at N47.23 billion excluding the investment in customers metering.

Earlier, the Chairman, JED PLC, Alhaji Babanginda Inuwa, in his welcome address, said the new vision of the power company will become the backbone of JED’s growth moving forward.

According to him: “The purpose of the new 5-years strategic plan is to help demonstrate how JED intend to break away from inefficiencies and inadequacies”, Inuwa said.

Our correspondent reports that in the quest to meet the customers satisfaction, JED had installed and commissioned not less than 88,500 prepaid meters from January to date at the cost of N5.6 billion naira.