Why we’re funding N1bn customer service system – Katepa
e Managing Director of Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC), core investor in the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), Engr. Emmanuel Katepa, said AEDC has chosen to invest N1bn (2.4 million euros) for a customer service system to strengthen revenue collection.
In an exclusive interaction with Daily Trust in Abuja recently, Katepa said, “A very huge chunk of this project is removing the discretion of junior officers tampering with customer service process, and that could reduce our revenue losses greatly.”
He said the project, tagged Integrated Commercial Management System (InCMS), would largely eliminate junior field staff who would be tracked and monitored by managers to improve service efficiency of the DisCo.
The Abuja DisCo, along with 10 others, were privatised and handed over to core investors on November 1, 2013. Mr. Katepa, who evaluated the performance of his DisCo, said given the electricity market situation, AEDC had performed well in various aspects: deploying information technology to harmonise its billing system and massive installation of transformers.
He said the DisCo had a target of installing at least 120,000 meters annually and had recently massively rolled out meters Small Power Users (SPUs) ahead of the Meter Asset Providers (MAP) scheme of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
According to the Strategic and Technical Advisor to the MD/CEO of AEDC, Dr. George Nguni, the firm trained 47 staff that would operate InCMS initially when it was activated on November 26, 2018, while retraining other staff, down to the service centres.
Dr. Nguni, who is also the Project Manager of INCMS, said, “This will help us to also aggregate our data with information from metered transformers and feeders so that we can access energy loss and resolve such.”
The General Manager, Customer Service, Mrs. Safiya Bello, in a briefing, said the system was in use in 104 countries worldwide with 14 African countries like Ghana, Zambia and Kenya. Nigeria would be the 15th African country as AEDC deployed the system, she noted.