Ikeja Electric commences e-tagging of high tension poles

Ikeja Electric Plc (IE) says it has commenced electronic tagging of electricity poles across its network to optimize operations through adequate maintenance of installations and reduction of downtime.

Spokesman for the company, Felix Ofulue, said the exercise, known as E-Pole Tagging Project, entailed labeling of all 11KV and 33KV High Tension (HT) poles with electronic Quick Response (QR) Code stickers.

According to him, it will accelerate fault clearing, ensure proper record keeping for poles and feeders that need urgent maintenance to bring about stable power distribution to customers.

He said the project started towards late last year and would cover 274 units of 11KV overhead feeders and 64 units of 33KV overhead feeders.

Ofulue said in a statement that the electronic stickers were designed in QR Code (Quick Response Code) format.

“Information about the feeders and poles are embedded into the fiber metallic stickers that are attached to the poles.

“These information can be read by scanning the QR Code on the stickers pasted on the poles with any smartphone devices.

“The scanned information will show the Index Number, Feeder Name, Pole Material Type (Wooden or Concrete), Pole ID, Longitude/Latitude and Pole Structure (Single or Dual Poles),” he said.

He said that the initiative would enable the technical team to track work and maintenance history, reducing human error in the upkeep of regular maintenance.

“It will also ensure speeding up tracking times for new work orders.

“Part of the recent improvement done by IE include upgrading of the PTC Undertaking at Ikeja GRA to offer a highly effective Point-of-Sales self-service.

“Others are fully automated Electronic Queue Management System (EQMS) and well-trained Executives Sales Representative.

“The projects executed to scale up supply across our network also include commissioning of the Mushin 1x15MVA Injection Substation and the New Oworo 15 MVA Injection Sub-Station.

“Towards the end of last year, IE carried out a thorough rehabilitation of the Agege Injection Substation with the replacement of two obsolete high voltage switch gears.

“It has also set up a Preventive Maintenance Team to check failure of equipment and guarantee stable power supply,” he said.