The Ethiopian Electric Utility (EEU) which is responsible for distributing power in the country is finalizing expansion of power projects for the capital city and other regional cities at a cost of over 120 million USD.
The Addis Ababa power project performance has reached 75 percent. It is expected to provide partial service next month. The project is being made possible through loans from the Chinese government at a cost 62 million USD.
The Central Addis Ababa power network project is mainly being done for the eastern part of Addis Ababa in connection with industrial expansion.
“The projects will hopefully minimize customers’ grievances in connection to power outages and access and the quality of our service,” Shiferaw Tellila, CEO of EEU said.
EEP is also expanding the power network at a cost of 62 USD in other regional cities such as Adama, Jimma. Bahir Dar, Mekele, Dessie and Hawassa.
For the first half the current fiscal year, EEU has provided new services for over 90 thousand customers to make electric power accessible and even out distribution throughout the country.
EEP is also working to automate its services for customers. A three-year project called the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) digitizes service so that problems in power distribution can easily be pinpointed.
Replacing the existing conventional system of collecting payments through banks; mobile and internet paying modes is another reform.
Recently, EEU agreed with the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia to collect bills form corporate customers. The Utility plans to collect its entire billing system via the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia after the end of this fiscal year.
Currently the utility has three million households. Fifty-eight percent of he nation is covered by electricity. The utility has collected over three billion birr during the first half of the current fiscal year.
“The introduction of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software and automation platforms will enable the utility to provide satisfactory service,” Demeke Robba, Deputy Head of automation and energy at EEU added.
