Global oil giant, Shell, is set to invest $2 billion in Kano Electricity Distribution Company in the next three years.
The company’s plan to improve and expand the distribution segment of the power value chain in northern Nigeria was disclosed by Jamil Isyaku Gwamna, the Managing Director of Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO).
Mr Gwamna made the disclosure during the inauguration of 170 new 500 KVA transformers in Kano on Tuesday.
According to Gwamna, KEDCO inherited a dysfunctional power supply system that required enormous investment to transform it, further stating billions of Naira had been committed to it in the last five years.
What it means: The investment by Shell is substantial, in the sense that it will go a long way in resolving several of the challenges faced by electricity consumers in that part of Nigeria. Many communities that have never been connected to the national grid stand a good chance of enjoying power supply as a result of this investment.
Note that KEDCO serves many densely populated states in the northwest geopolitical zones including Kano, Jigawa and Katsina States.
Meanwhile, Mr Gwamna assured the public that KEDCO would commence sales of prepaid metres in July. According to him, the idea aimed at curtailing the increasing trend of undue outrageous billing of electricity consumers. Consumers are at liberty to choose between the two types of metres that will be supplied.
The first type comes in three and goes for N69,000 while the other has one phase and costs N37,000. The flexible repayment plan for acquiring the metres will afford consumers to pay in instalments. Gwamna advised interested customers to pay upfront in offices within the franchise areas.
Speaking in view of the Shell investment, Gwamna affirmed that KEDCO would be one of the best power distribution firms in Nigeria soon.
