Oredola Adeola
Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC) is set to procure distribution lines, transformers, meters and other network equipment under its share of the Federal Government’s $500 million World Bank-backed Distribution Sector Recovery Programme (DISREP) aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s electricity distribution infrastructure.
Under the arrangement, the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) will on-lend part of the facility to YEDC to finance the rehabilitation of distribution lines and expansion of transformer capacity as part of the utility’s network improvement plan.
The development was disclosed in a World Bank-financed procurement document linked to Credit No. 9306, seen by Advisors Reports on Thursday.
According to the document, the funding framework enables the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) to extend shareholder loans to electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) to finance approved components of their Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs), developed by the utilities and cleared by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
The intervention is expected to cover projects involving the rehabilitation of medium- and low-voltage electricity lines, as well as upgrades and expansion of transformer capacity across distribution networks.
Specifically, YEDC is expected to deploy the funds toward the procurement of cables and conductors, overhead distribution materials, concrete poles, distribution transformers, distribution transformer (DT) meters, and feeder meters aimed at improving network reliability and operational efficiency within its franchise area.
