Aba Power Leads Four Firms to Assemble Smart Meters

Members of Aba power in a meeting to produce metres

Aba Power, Nigeria’s newest electricity distribution company (DisCo), is leading a collaboration with four local and foreign firms to assemble smart electricity meters in Aba, the economic nerve center of Abia State.

This was disclosed on Wednesday by Mrs. Agatha Nnaji, Group Managing Director of the Geometric Power Group the parent company of Aba Power during a visit by the Abia State House of Assembly Committee on Power and Public Utilities to the company’s headquarters in the Osisioma Industrial Layout.

“The four companies will produce the meters here on our premises,”

“By assembling the meters locally, many jobs will be created for our people—up to 35,000, according to the latest estimates.

“Together with our partners, we are helping the country save scarce foreign reserves and facilitating technology transfer to the Nigerian people,” she added.

She identified the firms involved in the assembly project as Kayz Consortium, led by Prince Kalu, and Eve Metering Company, headed by Soji Olagunji, a Nigerian entrepreneur based in China. The others are Chint Metering and DCESN Metering, both based in China.

Kayz is set to begin production this month, followed by Eve.

While Chint, DCESN, and Kayz are each expected to assemble 20,000 meters, Eve will deliver 100,000 meters.

The head of the metering team at Aba Power, Engineer Alfred Atenega, stated that their goal is “to deliver 20,000 prepaid meters to our customers every month so that every customer will have a smart meter within 12 months.”

However, it remains unclear whether the four meter companies will produce exclusively for Aba Power or also supply the other 11 DisCos across the country.

A source within one of the firms, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said, “We are likely to start by supplying only Aba Power for now, and later expand production to serve the other electricity companies nationwide because they all need quality smart meters.

“I don’t believe Professor Bart Nnaji, the Geometric Power CEO, and his team would object to making meters produced at their premises available to their peers.”he said.

Expressing satisfaction with what he described as Geometric Power’s innovative approach to the electricity business, the chairman of the Abia State Assembly Power and Public Utilities Committee urged the utility to provide electricity to remote communities that have been cut off for several years.

Aba Power Managing Director Ugo Opiegbe revealed that ongoing rehabilitation of numerous failed and vandalized facilities in the Aba Ring-fenced Area which covers nine of Abia State’s 17 local government areas will breathe new life into neglected and underserved communities forgotten for decades before Aba Power’s arrival.

The Honorable Uzodike also called on Aba Power to develop an arrangement to accommodate customers with outstanding payment arrears. In response, Engineer Blessing Ogbe, Aba Power’s Chief Operating Officer, confirmed that such an arrangement is already in place.

He said, “We understand the burden on customers and have made provisions for installment-based payments.

“Customers who had previously disconnected their meters due to billing concerns are now returning to reactivate them because the meters have introduced transparency.”he added.

Another member of the legislative committee, Honorable Stephen Ucheonye Akachukwu, stated that his colleagues “have been interacting with Aba residents, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

“The people are excited about the transparency that smart meters bring.”