1. Apua workshop-ABIDJAN, 9 TO 10TH November, 2017
THEME: LEADERSHIP WORKSHOP ON GOVERNANCE AND REDUCTION OF TECHNICAL AND COMMERCIAL LOSSES IN AFRICAN POWER UTILITIES

2. Overview of REG and ITS business line
NOVEMBER 2017

3. Background
REG is a product of reform that separate Water and energy Business, creating WASAC as a water company and Rwanda Energy Group with two subsidiary companies; Energy Utility Corporation Limited and Energy Development Corporation Limited,
The main purpose of the reform was to create focus and improve operational efficiency in the two companies,

4. Holding company CORPORATE STRUCTURE Energy Development Corporation Ltd
Energy Utility Corporation Ltd

5. Monitoring and evaluation
CORPORATE STRUCTURE
Group leadership
Coordination
Monitoring and evaluation
Audit

6. SUBSIDIARY MISSION
- General power system planning
- Energy infrastructure projects development (Generation and Transmission)
- Electricity roll-out program
- Primary energies (Oil, biomass)
- Social energies (Off-grid systems, biogas…)

7. SUBSIDIARY MISSION - Power generation and bulk purchase from IPPs,
- Operation and maintenance of Government owned Power Plants
- Bulk power transmission,
- Power distribution,
- Network Operation and maintenance
- Retail of electricity
- Consumer relation & demand side management

8. Electricity Access
Access to electricity by households increased more 4 times from 9% in to 41% by October, 2017 (On-grid 30% and 11% off-grid);
92% of Sector Offices connected to electricity grid and expected to increase to 98% by June 2018;
Plans to reach 100% access by 2024 and a financially reasonable mix of grid versus off grid solutions.
Introduced lifeline and time of use tariff

9. Generation vs. Demand
Currently, Generation and Demand are almost balanced
Installed Capacity: 208 MW
Highest Demand: 130 MW
PEAK
SHOULDER
OFF-PEAK
Period
Times
Off-Peak
23:01 Hours – 8:00 Hours
Shoulder
8:01 Hours – 16:59 Hours
Peak
17:00 Hours – 23:00 Hours

10. COUNTRYWIDE ELECTRICITY INFRASTRUCTURE COVERAGE AS OF OCTOBER, 2017
Below map shows that:
entire country is almost covered by MV network which simplifies connectivity and increasing chances to connect more customers,
Reduction in connection cost,
Improving reliability of supply (with areas being able to be fed from more than one source),
Import/export opportunities with neighboring countries,

12. FUTURE interconnectors

13. Strategies to control both technical and commercial losses
Zero tolerance on electricity theft, (high penalty charges),
Use of prepaid Meters (this improved recovery which in some countries is also a challenge) but also has its weakness)
Application of penalties on rate recovery/payment and this is being reviewed to align with bank annual interest rates/charges
Proper metering or control of energy flows (generation, auxiliary supply, own consumption etc..)
SCADA System (Providing visibility on the network)
Introduction of remotely read meters (piloted but also work in progress to increase coverage)
Awareness campaigns, toll free lines,
A dedicate Unit under commercial department to deal with theft of all kinds (Revenue protection Unit)
Regular inspections and audits (illegal connections and power factor)

14. Strategies to reduce losses
Installation of smart meters to quantify technical losses, (funded by European Union), February, 2018-ongoing project
There is an ongoing project to install smart meters on big customers (the rationale is that 0.3% of customers contribute 53% of our revenues), completion scheduled June, 2018
Reinforcement of electricity distribution network (Kigali, Rubavu and eastern part of the country)
Limit extension of 15kV network,

15. Ongoing and planned initiatives-systems
Expansion of overall coverage of Fibre, (this will also reduce OPEX for both DMS and MDMS etc..)
Introduction of distribution management system (all active devices i.e automatic load switches, auto re-closers etc..);
Operationalizing Integrated Business Management System (IBMS) that shall comprise asset management, enterprise source plan etc;
Deployment of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), for quantification of technical losses;
Upgrade of ArcGIS (to include Geonis Electricity) and a basis for DMS and other systems,

16. AMR Network Architecture
HT LINE
DCU
GSM/GPRS
LT LINE
PLCC
Data Flow
From DCU
To DCU

17. Challenges Aligning network extensions with system improvements,
low voltage dominant in electricity distribution,
High Energy Losses (21.08%)
Cost of Financing (interest rates are high)
Technical knowhow (skills)
Expensive solution to appropriately deal with losses and improve operational efficiency,
Legal and regulatory Gaps (this being addressed, a draft law available and in review process)
Managing high level of access targets and low levels of combined technical and commercial losses
Rwanda-DRC Section: USD 6.2 million-x-rate gap
ISOLUX-

18. LEARNS LEARNT
Use of technology can be a good means to guide investments,
Training of personnel,
Proper internal controls to avoid abuse of power,
Stringent sanctions and zero tolerance are key,
Proper data management is key,
Should be able to ensure issues of under voltages and line overloading, oversized transformers and single phase technology roll-out are properly dealt with
You have to have buy-in from line Ministry and key stakeholders,
Proper planning for network extension or growth has a huge implication on future network performance-this is a critical challenge especially when one is to apply same principle as in developed countries
Rwanda-DRC Section: USD 6.2 million-x-rate gap
ISOLUX-

19. Thank You