The Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) has set up 19 Inspectorate Field Offices (IFO), three national meter test stations, to enforce electrical installation standards for safety and to improve power supply.
Mr Peter Ewesor, Managing Director, NEMSA, disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday at the 2nd stakeholders Forum on Enforcement of Technical Standards and Regulations, Safety, Testing and Certification in Nigeria.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the programme was organised to evolve ways to address proliferation and use of substandard electrical materials, equipment and poor state of the power supply networks.
It was also meant to find ways to tackle the lack of compliance with standard construction and installation practice that was resulting in increased electrical accidents and electrocutions.
Ewesor said that the stakeholders forum would provide the perfect mix of power industry players, other allied industries to discuss the way forward in addressing issues of standard electrical installations.
According to him, NEMSA had also set up one engineering and chemical laboratory manned by qualified, engineers, technical officers with the state-of-the-art testing equipment.
This, he said, was designed to ensure standards of electrical installations by industry operators and individuals.
He said the laboratory was also designed to curb some of the problems contributing to poor power supply and electrical accidents.
He listed some of the problems militating against stable power supply and also responsible for electrical accidents to include poor state of distribution networks, use of substandard electrical materials like bad concrete poles, untreated wooden poles.
Other causes, according to him, is the use of undersized cables and conductors like 120mm2 instead of 150mm2, 90mm2 instead of 100mm2, under rated and out of specification transformers.
He also identified unresolved issues of metering, accuracy and integrity of energy meters, inadequate clearances of power lines to structures and right of ways as some of the issues.
Ewesor, who is also the Chief Electrical Inspector of the Federation, however, said NEMSA in mitigating some of the challenges had issued enforcement directives.
He said the enforcements include use of only 150mm2 ACSR conductors for 33kv primary feeder lines, ban on use of 33kv primary feeder lines supplying 33/11kv injection substations for point loads.
Other enforcements are disconnection of structures, buildings, with right of way of power lines from public supply systems and networks, ban on use of untreated wooden poles and cross arms.
He also said NEMSA has also banned the use of ungalvanised channel and angle iron, bolts for construction of networks.
Ewesor also revealed that NEMSA was at the concluding stages of producing the “Nigerian Electrical Installations and Construction Guidelines Manual (NEICGM).
He said the guidelines would be a blueprint for best electrical installations and practice in the power distribution sub-sector.
The managing director said a fine of N500, 000 awaits non compliance with installations regulations, to serve as deterrent and to ensure compliance by stakeholders.
He, however, said the ultimate punishment for non compliance with electrical installation standards was imprisonment.
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, said the programme was a major step by the government through NEMSA to enforce technical standards and provide safe, sustainable and reliable electricity supply to Nigerians.
Fashola, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Mr Louis Edozie, said the theme of the forum was in line with the importance President Muhammadu Buhari places on improving power supply in the country.
He said it was gratifying that NEMSA was sanitising stakeholders and the public to its activities, adding that NEMSA was also collaborating with other agencies of government to carry out its mandate.
Fashola appealed to the owners of the privatised generation and distribution companies to double their services in providing additional power supply to consumers.
High point of the forum was the presentation of papers on various power sub-sectors.
Papers presented by resource persons include: Mandate and Enforcement Powers, Curbing Electrical Accidents and Electrocutions Nationwide, Causes, Challenges, Consequences and Prevention.
Others are Improving Electricity Power Supply Nationwide Through Standardisation of Electrical Installations in the Distribution Subsector of the Power Value Chain.
Effectiveness of Meter Testing and Certification For Sustainability of the Electricity Market in Nigeria, among other papers.
