joeagbro's posterous http://joeagbro.posterous.com Most recent posts at joeagbro's posterous posterous.com Sun, 25 Jul 2010 18:13:00 -0700 Bonny, the island where electricity never goes http://joeagbro.posterous.com/bonny-the-island-where-electricity-never-goes http://joeagbro.posterous.com/bonny-the-island-where-electricity-never-goes

 A section of Bonny at night

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Epileptic electricity supply has been a major bane of the good life for many Nigerians. But, for the past nine years on Bonny Island, Rivers State, it’s been a different story. Joe Agbro Jr. writes

 

Twenty-nine year old Cassiel Irimagha, an indigene of Bonny is an electrical engineer and managing director of Cassetric and Company, a sawmilling business set up by his father in 1990. Following his dad’s death, he took over the business in 2008. His duties see him managing the day to day affair of the company, but unlike many managers in Nigeria, he is not bogged down with thinking of how to source power for his business as long as he can pay his bills. At his sawmill located on Hospital Road  in Bonny Island, his sawing machines rip wood away anytime there is a job waiting. He is among the over 100, 000 people living on the island that are not challenged by power outages which has become a norm of everyday life for many Nigerians.

Before 2001, the oil companies had been running generators for the communities of Bonny. But, the arrangement did not guarantee a stable electricity supply and was also limited in spread.  Gospel Peter, a welder operates at the Junction of New Road. Originally from Akwa-Ibom State, Peter who has been welding for over ten years has bitter memories of when electricity was a challenge on the island.  “Before electricity came, it was very difficult because of the job that we are into, he said. “One minute you can just be working, then, the next second, the light is gone. And it may take a day,  one week, one month, or two months before the light comes.”

Irrimagha
Irimagha

“And anytime the generators got spoilt, you will see suffering and our own business was suffering,” Peter reminisced. But, the situation is changed and he knows. “Other parts of the country are looking for a privilege like this. If you go to buy generators and you fuel it, you will see that at the end of the day, it is a very big task,” Peter said.

Other businesses are also tapping into this steady electricity. At City Salon, a barbing salon on Akiama Road, Anne Oguledo who hails from Imo State and has been living on the Island for two years and works there as a clerk knows everyday she leaves for work, there would be electricity to run the salon. “Business is moving very well,” she said, and according to Oguledo, the salon does not spend more than two thousand naira a month on power. “If there is any problem that we have don’t have light, it will just be for the mean time before the problem would be rectified,” she said. George Udom, one of the barbers at the salon however, complained that they do buy the electricity but recognises the advantage.  “At least, if you buy five hundred naira worth and you manage it, you will use it very well,” he said.

Shedrach Patrick who lives at Finima is so sure of having electricity to power his entertainment needs after the close of work. Comparing it with other parts of the country he has lived, the 24 year old Edo State boy  and worker at a Frozen foods store on Hospital road said, “I like this place for that.”

How the power is gotten

Around here, Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) is not popular. Though, with a prerogative of supplying power in the country, some residents only remember it as providing ancillary services to diesel generators owned and maintained by Shell Petroleum Development Company. But, since 2001, the Bonny Utility Company, BUC was set up and charged with supplying the island with power. And like magic, it has been working.

Having been a customer of BUC for over six years now, Irimagha who finally relocated to Bonny in 2005 after living on and off the Island since birth simply describes the experience as fantastic. “It’s been good for business. We don’t complain of what other businesses in other places complain of. We are able to serve our customers better, faster and it gives us joy when we can do that.” Comparing what he was paying for power while at Port-Harcourt where the business originally started, Irimagha said, “whatever we are charged monthly is fully subsidised.”

BUC, an initiative of Bonny Island’s three big companies - Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG), Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), and Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited was set up as a corporate social responsibility in 2001. This was under the Joint Industry Companies (JIC) arrangement in partnership with Bonny Kingdom and the state and local governments. Via this arrangement, two high voltage underground feeders from NLNG and SPDC supply power to an injection station in Bonny from gas turbines used to power their respective plants. This is then wired to another Injection station at Finima. From these two injection stations, electricity is then transferred to 42 low voltage distribution stations in different parts of the island with each having the capacity to serve about three hundred households.

Hooking up to the grid

Over the years, sections of the island were segmented into contours by BUC. And by 2008, the company had virtually covered Bonny Island. To qualify for electricity on the island, residents are expected to signify an interest by paying five hundred naira and filling a registration form. After this, the consumer is issued with a pre-payment meter. Figures from BUC indicate that as at June 2010, about 9, 334 households on the island have been connected to the distribution grid via prepayment meters. Details of all customers are on the computer system in the vending unit and ‘electricity credits’ is simply generated for each customer upon presentation of payment to the bank. What consumers are charged is dependent on the level of consumption - the higher the demand, the higher the rate. Those on the lowest tariff plan, mainly small residential customers are charged N1.20k per Kwh and this amount graduates with higher demands.

There is also a Basic Energy Support Allocation (BESA) or what is generally called ‘free token’ given to every consumer with the highest of 283Kwh going to those in the lower tariff bracket while this reduces to 142Kwh for those in the higher tariff bracket. In May 2010, 45 percent of this figure or about 4, 200 households enjoyed free electricity through these tokens without buying additional credits. Evangeline Hart, who works at a business centre on King Jaja of Opobo street is one of the regular beneficiaries of the BESA. Hart, an indigene of Bonny describes the electricity situation in Bonny as “very much better” compred to parts of Rivers State and Anambra state where she has lived. Considering that she gets constant electricity to power her TV, radio cassette player, refrigerator and light bulbs in the two-room apartment she shares with another tenant on Macaulay street, she is enjoying a measure of the ‘good life.’ In the occasional months she exceeds the free limits, she said, “we buy about five hundred naira” worth of electricity. These bonuses are however meter specific and cannot be used on any other meter, eliminating any form of discrepancies.

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Death to the generators

In many cities in Nigeria, generators usually used as a back-up for electric power have become the main-stay. It comes with its attendant fumes, and annoying noises. But that is not the case in Bonny. Edmund Bluejack, the head of administration of BUC whose job entails overseeing customer relations has been employed in the company since 2002. He said, “Shell was servicing most parts of the community through generators.” He however disclosed that because it was free, it was not everybody that had the full current because the connections were not standard. “Then, we really had problem with power. But, it’s a different thing now.” To him, he sees BUC as being positive. “There were some businesses that were not up and running, like refrigeration and frozen foods businesses, welders, and sawmills that are now flourishing.

Along Mission Road for example, there is a hive of shops, restaurants, salons, briskly operating, but, it might take a discerning observer quite some time to notice the absence of the generator din usually associated with bustling commerce in Nigeria. That is because there is no need for it. Dagogo Ezekiel Hart, an indigene of Bonny and a BUC worker said, “the sound of generators is alien to us.” Indeed, not only is the sound of generators alien, its sales is also not commonplace. Unlike what obtains in other major cities, generators are not a fast moving good. At a store in the building occupied by Chuvicks fast food where some generators were stocked, the seller said, buyers are largely those that stay in the villages far flung in the creeks.

Funded by the JICs, the BUC project has so far gulped over 3billion naira spent on capital and operational expenditure. And the consequence is a booming town, efficient, and with a high turnover. Virtually every stretch of roads has concrete poles with fluorescent lamps hung on them. This improves security and gives a modern ambience to the island, especially at night when everywhere is lighted up. Though, set up as a CSR, BUC which has Bonny indigenes making up of 75%of the staff strength runs a business model to ensure it is sustainable while providing service. And the availability of power in its contours of supply in June 2010 stood at 99.3 percent while the average overall availability for the period between January and June 2010 was 98.4%.

Ebinum
A new outlook

Beacuse of this prevailing situation, Bonny is wtinessing a setady boom. Already, early birds from other parts of the country are discovering this city where light never goes. Hope Lazarus, from Akwa-Ibom state came to work for Daewoo, one of the companies that helped built Bonny with his family to the Island in 2004. But, Lazarus who presently works at Chuvicks, an eatery and lives at Wilbros is not in a hurry to leave. “Bonny is the best,” he said. There are many people like Lazarus on the island.

Several challenges however confront the company, especially, the influx of  people which stretched facilities on ground, especially during the initial stages of the NLNG trains. For instance, shanties made out of plywood and corrugated roofing sheets or tarpaulin noticeable around the Labour camp sprouted as a result of the boom. But, to prevent indiscriminate use and also to monitor the consumption, some of these areas fall out of the company’s area of supply. This, according to BUC’s general manager, Dr. John Ebinum, an electrical engineer, is to know the limits of supply. “If I want to make sure that at least 98 percent of the time, there is electricity in the community, then, I need to know my capabilities and if I need to add another two or three streets, there would be proper planning,” the soft spoken GM said.

As it stands now, BUC has the ability to distribute more power. “At the moment, the power we have is more than those we have connected to,” the GM said. In June 2010, the available power capacity of BUC stood at 22.5MVA while the peak load demand at that date was 13MVA.

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Sun, 25 Jul 2010 17:18:45 -0700 The Beginning http://joeagbro.posterous.com/the-beginning http://joeagbro.posterous.com/the-beginning

Everything has a first time. Today, I really begin.

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