No free electricity from Bayelsa’s independent power plant – Diri

From Amgbare Prince, Yenagoa

Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has said electricity from the state’s Independent Power Plant (IPP) will not be free, as residents are to pay for the service.

Governor Diri made these known on Wednesday when he visited the project site to inspect the newly procured 60 MW gas turbines at Elebele in Ogbia local Government Area.

He said that consumption would be metered and paid for as the government had already signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Jampur Group for establishing a customised metering production plant in the state.

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“As you know, to maintain these equipment and the gas to fire them, even though it is on our soil, we will spend money to procure it from the company. So it is not free. For there to be constant electricity everybody must pay for it. It is pay as you consume.”

The Commissioner for Power, Mr. Kharin Komuko, described the project as dream come true for the ASSURED Prosperity administration.

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Also speaking, Managing Director of the Bayelsa State Electricity Company, Engr. Olice Kemenanabo, who explained the role of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) in the state’s IPP project, said the Electricity Act had grey areas that were interwoven to ensure that all legacy distribution companies were carried along.

He stated that the PHEDC existing network, which has over four hundred transformers in the state, would be utilised for power distribution.

Speaking on behalf of the Jampur Group, technical partners to the state electricity company, the Project Manager, Mr. Sharif Abu, described the gas turbine project as very crucial and sensitive, noting that the precise time schedule for completion would be met.

The governor also inspected sites of the ongoing construction of the 25,000-capacity stadium at Igbogene and the nine-storey civil servants secretariat project at Ovom, both in Yenagoa Local Government Area.