Kaduna Electric to establish $250m meter plant

The management of Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company has said it would establish a $250 million meter manufacturing plant in Kaduna before the end of 2016.

It’s Managing Director, Mr Garba Haruna, made the disclosure at the flag-off of the distribution of 20,000 free smart electricity meters to customers in Kaduna State.

Haruna said the plant would enhance the availability of electricity meters in the company’s franchise states of Kaduna, Kebbi, Zamfara and Sokoto.

He said that already, a site had been secured and work would soon begin to setup the plant.

According to him, the target is to meet the company’s target of distributing 500,000 meters to its customers in the next five years He said local production of the meters would add value to electricity distribution in the country.

“This will also reduce the cost of importing some of the components for producing the meters for our franchise states and the country.

“This will also create more employment opportunities for graduates and other supporting staff,” Haruna said.

The Managing Director said the meter manufacturing plant would also help the company cut down the cost of training its technical staff. He noted that, with the plant, customers would not have to wait for months for their meters to be installed.

On his part, the Chairman of the company, Alhaji Yusuf Hamisu, appealed to the Federal Government to introduce a robust monetary policy to stabilise the country’s currency.

Hamisu said the instability of the Naira had affected the company’s import plans of some major components for electricity distribution, thereby making it difficult to provide effective services. The Chairman also said the current value of US dollar in the market has made the arrangement not feasible.