Port Harcourt electric unveils energy efficiency system

Consumers in the Port Harcourt electricity zone can save as much as 30 percent of energy usage by a mechanism launched by the Port Harcourt Electric Distribution Company (PHED) owned by Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom and Cross River states with some investors.

The company has also launched online bill payment platform created by its partner, G-Pay Africa, which is the outsourced company for bill collection.

Jay McCoskey, CEO, who unveiled the new products on Friday, at the corporate headquarters of the company, said it was the first distribution company to come up with efficient energy use gadgets and products.

McCoskey said energy remained the backbone of the future of Nigeria and that every sector had a vested interest in efficient energy system.

McCoskey said PHED had identified 15 large-scale energy users who would be served with embedded power supply and 10 others that would be placed on special service attention, requiring the construction of seven dedicated lines before end of 2016. He put the cost of the special lines and dedicated attention at N7 billion.

He talked about plans to set up 43 power clinics where customers could be given medical attention and the existing 24-hour call centre to attend to issues. The special customers would be entitled to early warning in event of power cuts.

The CEO said the online payment platform would make it easy for certain grade of customers to pay electricity bill from anywhere and any time. He said online payment would head reduce the loss, but said the region is used to entitlement mentality and militancy.

The head, customer service, Godwin Orovwhiroro, lamented that the company loses N2.3 billion every month through many factors including energy theft, wastage, etc.

Explaining the functionality of the energy saving products, the energy efficiency programme manager, Frank Ajaegbu, who spent years in the UK working on same scheme, said the company now had energy usage calculators that could help a consumer put a handle on what he consumes and control his bills.

He said electricity companies had interest in reduced usage by consumers to enable the company spread the surplus to areas that had no supply and to increase the hours of power availability even to serviced areas. It would also reduce pressure on PHED equipment.

The customer would now pay what is easy and make bill payment a thing of joy. Many methods have been created to pass the PHED message to consumers through churches, communities, media, forums, etc.

He said new bulbs that use five wattage volts instead of 100 have been created with LED television systems that need little power to go on. The campaign would get to 120 schools in the four states that up the PHED covering 81 local council areas.

He said: “The key is affordability. You should take control of your energy usage. This is tested in many developed parts of the world including South Africa, the UK and US.”