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AfrElec METERING AfrElec

Nigeria’s MAPCo to raise $1.2bn

to finance new meters

NIGERIA NIGERIA’S Meter Assets Finance and Manage- on a system of fixed-level payments or estimated
ment Co. aims to raise NIR480bn ($1.2bn) in bills.
three years to supply electricity meters to Nige- Non-payment is rife, and revenues are low,
rian consumers in a bid to improve payment dis- meaning that Discos are heavily indebted and
cipline and improve distribution revenues. the supply sector is unattractive to investors.
New Hampshire Capital, FBNQuest and Kai- Indeed, less than a 10th of Nigeria’s 41mn
ros Investments Africa are helping to package households have their electricity consumption
and structure the venture, known as MAPCo, metered, and half of those are faulty, according
for investors either to buy equity or inject debt PricewaterhouseCoopers.
into the company, Bloomberg reported. The Nigerian government aims to supply
“The electricity distribution firms will then meters to all consumers, thereby putting an end
have the money to go back and buy more meters to estimated billing by the Discos.
and the cycle continues, paving the way to close As part of the recent agreement reached
the meter gap,” New Hampshire Capital CEO between the government and trade unions over
Onion Omonforma told Bloomberg. the current increase in tariffs in Nigeria, the gov-
MAPCo will collect the cost of the meters ernment has confirmed that its National Mass
from consumers through their electricity bills Metering Programme now aims to distribute
over a period of 10 years. The meters will be 6mn meters to Nigerians for free.
handed over to the power-distribution compa- MAPCo plans to issue a NIR100bn ($400mn)
nies (Discos) once they are paid off. bond in the next year, Omonforma said. Road-
Nigeria suffers from widespread theft of shows have been planned for the US and
power and low rates of bill payments, as many Europe, and will also include local institutional
customers do not have meters, relying instead investors.™

ESKOM

Eskom to resume grid project in KwaZulu-Natal

SOUTH AFRICA ESKOM has said it will resume construction of Eskom Transmission.
the 123-km transmission line running through Noticing the far-reaching effects of corona-
uMgungundlovu and uThukela District Munic- virus (COVID-19), which had pushed millions
ipalities in KwaZulu-Natal Province. of people into unemployment and poverty, the
The affected towns are Pietermaritzburg, project could not have started at a better time,
Estcourt, Howick, Richmond and Mooi-River, Eskom noted. The utility further underlined that
Eskom said in a statement. the power line will contribute to bringing about
The final construction of the 47-km leg of economic change within the communities of the
this power line will start from the existing Venus five affected local municipalities.
substation in Estcourt and will end at the existing According to Eskom, the project has set into
Ariadne substation in Pietermaritzburg. motion social and economic changes by creat-
The utility said it had been engaging with ing 190 job opportunities ranging from profes-
governmental, environmental and all relevant sional, skilled, semi-skilled and the unskilled
structures in the area, laying the groundwork for workforce, benefitting communities within the
the construction to begin. municipalities affected by the construction.
“It is important to note that this project will About 70% of the employed workforce has
enable Eskom to fulfil its mandate of electricity been recruited from the locals within the rel-
provision to users in the area, as well as the entire evant towns, with the entire team completing
province of KwaZulu-Natal. Since 2005, Eskom their induction at the beginning of October
has been expanding its infrastructure through 2020. “On completion, the project will not only
additional power stations and power lines, as contribute to improved stability of the transmis-
well as strengthening and upgrading existing sion network, but will also create a more flexible
electricity infrastructure. This in turn will ensure network that will enhance electricity reliability.
that electricity users experience reliable power More importantly, this line will also contribute to
supply and that we meet the country’s electricity the economic growth of the province,” concludes
demands,” said Bob Naraghi, the grid manager at Naraghi.™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 42 22•October•2020