The largest electric distribution company- Ikeja Electric has reeled out its achievements as it celebrates ten decades of service.
This was done by the head of corporate communication Mr. Kingsley Okotie during an X Space hosted by The Alimosho Mail Newspaper.
According to Mr. Okotie the achievements have not come without challenges but the focused of IE has remained in its passion to provide service to its numerous customers by adopting technology in delivering service.
He further listed some of the achievements that include the growing distribution capacity of about 1.208MVA ISS Cap to 4,832 distribution transformer cap and 2,177MVA Injection Substation cap. IE total energy delivered 3,840GWh 4,063GWh with an average monthly energy off take 287GW 381GWh,and has grown it capacity to turn around time of faulty resolution to 10:33 hours with a customer base grown from 743,023 to 1,231,110.
Ikeja Electric remains one of the leading DisCos having in the deployment of meters having grown its number from about 30,000 to a whopping 830,000 as at June 2023. The rate of customer complaints resolution has risen to an appreciable rate of 80%, with grid assets o1,200 distribution transformers, 256 (no.) 11kV feeders and 79 (no.) 33kV feeders 19,446 distribution transformers, 297 (no.) 11kV feeders, 96 (no.) 33kV feeders, and 2,587km route length.
Its Average energy availability grew from 11:04 hours (2016) to 14:55 hours, with a depreciable rate slightly below 20% of ATC&C loss from44%. Billing efficiency saw an 8% growth from 82% to 90% with an increase of collection efficiency rate of 24% from 68% to 93%.
Ikeja Electric has also played a vital role in reducing the rate of employment in Nigeria by growing its staff strength from 2,637 to 3,033. Its average monthly collection expectedly also grew from N3.75billion to N17.5 billion while as at 2022 its suppressed demand dropped from 430MW to 368MW, with a metering density growth from 22.8% to 76.9%.
With a zero sustainability initiatives, IE executed 12 (number) sustainability initiative as of 2023 that include; Environmental audit of Injection Substations, e-billing, Trash2Treasure, Community Safety Ambassadors Program, Take Safety Home, Harm 2 Zero. It has built a company culture from hierarchical culture that recognizes tenure-based reward system to performance and merit-based culture.
From a non-existent CSR initiatives to 56 that include Metering Academy for Artisans, Palliatives distribution during COVID-19 pandemic, medical outreaches, market sanitation exercises, books donation, reintegration of out-of-school students back to school, Ikorodu Technical School upgrade, youth empowerment programmes, etc.
Human capacity training grew from zero to 2500 as at 2022 financial year having achieved 302 capacity development programs as of June 2023. Its total capex from ₦5 billion to ₦11.07 billion with about 20 locations of bilateral power initiatives, conducive working environment was initiated also with Young Engineers Programme (YEP).
With the adoption of key technology, revenue optimization and business processes were automated and has been the key driver of operational efficiency and revenue optimization for the business. The key achievements here are: Integrated metering backend systems to support tracking and remote operation of meters, Deployed Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to manage customer complaints resolution process and Customer Notification Needed (CNN) to keep our customers informed about important information, Implementation of self-service options for customers on the AVAYA IVR without the need for Customer Service Agents, deployed Customer Information System (CIS) to support customer information management and billing, Developed and deployed mobile applications (MRS app, IE Force app, smart forms, etc.) to support field operations and activities such as meter reading, meter installation and vigilance checks, Deployed business support applications such as leave management portal, online performance management process, and online procurement process, Deployed thermo-vision cameras: The thermo-vision camera assists with making predictive decision on maintenance of equipment and feeders by forming a heat zone image using infrared radiation. The higher an object’s temperature, the more infrared radiation is emitted and displayed through heat, Hazard reporting using i-Safe mobile app to enable the business promptly resolve issues thereby preventing incidents on our network, Deployment of SmartKYC which hosts customer account creation, KYC update, Meter Request Platform all in one platform at the customer’s convenience without visiting the office
On revenue optimization and business processes Automation, IE has effectively improved on these areas;
Integrated metering backend systems to support tracking and remote operation of meters
Deployed Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to manage customer complaints resolution process and Customer Notification Needed (CNN) to keep our customers informed about important information
Implementation of self-service options for customers on the AVAYA IVR without the need for Customer Service Agents
Deployed Customer Information System (CIS) to support customer information management and billing
Developed and deployed mobile applications (MRS app, IE Force app, smart forms, etc.) to support field operations and activities such as meter reading, meter installation and vigilance checks
Deployed business support applications such as leave management portal, online performance management process, and online procurement process
Deployed thermo-vision cameras: The thermo-vision camera assists with making predictive decision on maintenance of equipment and feeders by forming a heat zone image using infrared radiation. The higher an object’s temperature, the more infrared radiation is emitted and displayed through heat
Hazard reporting using i-Safe mobile app to enable the business promptly resolve issues thereby preventing incidents on our network
Deployment of SmartKYC which hosts customer account creation, KYC update, Meter Request Platform all in one platform at the customer’s convenience without visiting the office