The Nation Newspaper

Tag: power supply

  • Nigeria loses $29.3b yearly to erratic power supply

    The Electricity Generation Companies (GenCos) at the weekend said the country loses $29.3billion yearly to low   supply resulting from load shedding and inadequate facilities.

    The Executive Secretary, Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC), Joy Ogaji, in an emailed response to questions,  urged the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to upgrade its network to absorb the 8,000megawatts (Mw) capacity of the GenCos.

    She said: “In urban areas where electricity access has been provided, the availability of electricity supply is drastically low, due either to load shedding or inadequate power supply facilities.  It is estimated that the Nigerian economy is losing $29.3 billion annually, due to the lack of adequate power.”

    Ogaji, a lawyer, also sought a strict regulation of the transmission and distribution chains of the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) to compel the distribution companies (DisCos) to remit the revenue they collect from their customers to the market operator.

    She said: “If power output must improve, the transmission and distribution arms of the power chain must be strictly regulated. The transmission grid must be upgraded to ensure 8000Mw available capacity from GenCos is put on the grid.

    “The DisCos must be strictly monitored to ensure revenue collected for electricity supplied is remitted. This is the link to infrastructure development and future investment along the power chain.”

    Justifying Federal Government’s continued funding of the GenCos despite the privatisation, she said the government intervention is “because investment on generation is at the instance of the off-taker (NBET- FGN). Also because they have kept to the terms of their contract with government’’.

    “GenCos, despite the stern challenges they are faced with from inception till date, have in association with the Federal Government’s objective to enhance the efficiency of the nation’s power industry as well as make energy affordable and available to consumers, kept to the terms of the industry agreements they entered into with the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), which defines the relationship between the privatised companies and the government (represented by BPE and Ministry of Finance incorporated (MOFI) with a five-year period to recover lost capacities. Records from BPE shows that as at the takeover date in November 2013, available generation capacity was 4,500Mw.

    “Also installed generation capacity stands at 13,496Mw as against 12,500Mw at take over. GenCos engaged on a massive capacity recovery plan with their acquired asset and achieved in no time lost capacities increasing available capacity to 7,913Mw.”

    She said NESI has huge potential, but yet to demonstrate sustainable returns to investors across the electricity supply value chain.

    Ogaji said cash flow within the industry is the fundamental problem preventing Nigerians from enjoying continued and sustainable improvement in electricity supply and the gains of the power sector reforms or privatisation.

    She said: “The reason for this liquidity squeeze we feel in the sector is that the sector is working against the established principles of electricity supply value chain.

    “The first principle being that while energy flows from the left to the right (via the fuel (gas or water) supplier to the fuel transporter (NGPTC), to the power generator (GenCos), to the power transmitter (TCN), to the power distributor (DisCos) and then to our homes or industry/commercial enterprises. The payment/money for the energy is expected to move from right to the left.

    “That is, from consumers to the DisCos – statutorily empowered to collect and account for customer payments, on behalf of the value chain.

    Read also: ‘Awka residents to enjoy 15-hr daily power supply’

    “This, unfortunately, is not happening as the GenCos are having a current market invoice shortfall of over 75 per cent. The question is: ‘which business can survive on a 25 per cent monthly invoice payment. Are Nigerians not willing or able to pay for the power generated?’ ”

    Ogaji said GenCos increased available generation capability was not translated to corresponding increase in power supply to consumers, so consumers believe that the system has failed.

    According to her, the  privatisation of the sector had exposed the  its structural weakness.

    She said: “As investors, GenCos are worst hit in this electricity market logjam. They generate power and the power is consumed and not paid for. The Transition Electricity Market (TEM) regulation betrayed GenCos. Ineffective contracts as against the TEM promise; imposed quasi-PPA; constrained down and out – unrecognised demand capacity; wrongly defined available capacity.

    “The above facts culminate to the understanding that whatever is on paper as an outstanding to any GenCo is less than the actual. GenCos are all casualties – a collateral damage to the economy.

    “Natural justice, apart from PPA (power purchase agreement) clauses, requires that the GenCo be paid full for the declared available capacity and energy in the absence of the SO’s instruction to ramp down. Obvious commercial justification is that the GenCo has mobilised and paid for every input variable – fuel, labour and all other overhead costs – needed to produce energy as declared.

    “More than four years after the establishment of NBET, what is evident to both international and local investors in the power sector is that NBET is deficient in the required capitalisation to meet its obligations.

    “It also lacks the ability to provide adequate and sustainable payment securities backed by the Federal Government under PPAs. In the light of these glaring deficiencies, international organisations like the World Bank and the African Development Bank have had to create credit enhancement/payment support instruments in the form of partial risk guarantees to protect the companies.”

  • ‘We are partnering to ensure power supply’

    Zola Electric and Sterling Bank have entered into a partnership to solve power problems.

    According to the two companies,  households and businesses suffer from lack or inadequate power supply and spend huge amounts to enjoy substantial electricity supply.

    Speaking during the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Lagos to seal the deal, Zola Electric Chief Executive Officer, Bill Lenihan, explained the edge Zola has over its contemporaries, including the durability and cost-efficiency of the panels and batteries.

    Sterling Bank Managing Director Abubakar Suleiman assured of the bank’s readiness to fund purchase and installation of Zola solutions to Nigerians who cannot afford to pay  for the product so they can pay back in installments.

    Lenihan said: “We have a business model that will solve the energy problem of Nigeria. We have studied market for about a year and everybody wants the power problem in Nigeria solved. Over 2.2 billion people across the globe, including Nigerians, don’t have access to power and many other also don’t have access to reliable power supply and that is the problem we love to solve as an organisation.

    “Our mission is simple, to offer 24-hour clean energy. Today, we use our solution to solve power problems across Africa. In Nigeria, we want to solve the problems of those who have access to grid and unreliable power supply. Average households in Lagos have an average grid power supply of about between four and eight hours.

    “Our solutions are designed and built for purpose to your energy needs and economic situation. Every single home and business is treated in this way. It is autonomous with seamless interoperable integration with solar grid and generations with smart connected technology providing optimisation

    “Only Zola has a product offering that spans the 2.2 billion people that don’t have access to power. It provides power independence at your fingertips, power for purpose and scalable with customer needs. The software synchronises all power sources, controls frequency and ensures consistent, safe and reliable power. Our product offering is not just durable, it is a life-time solution”

    Suleiman said: “Zola is not another service provider that is leveraging solar. It is an energy solutions provider that can solve Nigeria’s energy problems. Nigeria’s energy problem is a crisis of great magnitude. It is important that we have that understanding. It is not a small crisis that a company, state government or ministry of power can deal with. It is something that has massive impact on any single person that does business in Nigeria. If you don’t solve the problem of power, you cannot solve the problem of unemployment, if you don’t solve the problem of unemployment, you don’t have the chances of solving the problem of security. Massive unemployment, this is one big problem of our time.

    “As a bank, this is one of our concerns, to solve unemployment but we cannot solve that without solving the problem of power. You cannot solve the power problems in millions of homes and business but can find a model that can help solve it, hence the partnership with Zola. I will not describe the challenges we face in power sector privatisation or the lack of investment in the grid, among others, those are major challenges. Some smaller countries such as United Kingdom have far more advanced grids because they invest heavily in them. Beside the problems of reliable power supply and unemployment, is the climate change challenge, which increasingly calls for adoption of clean energy.

  • ’90% informal sector operators battle power supply’

    Ninety per cent of the operators in the informal sector is unable to produce optimally, due to the poor power supply in the country, Renewable Energy Association of Nigeria (REAN) President Mr. Femi Adaju has said.

    He said the situation had worsened as generation drops to 4,300 megawatts (Mw) early this month, adding that the issue is affecting the economy, largely dominated by informal sector operators.

    He said operators, such as welders, hairdressers, launders, fashion designers, and mobile phone chargers, spend a bigger chunk of their capital  to provide alternative source of energy.

    Adajau, in a paper entitled: “The implications of power failure on the economy: Effects on the operators in the informal sector,” delivered at a stakeholders’ forum in Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos,  said the economy was struggling to survive because the sector were not recording enough growth.

    According to him, the sector is in dire crisis and requires the intervention of the stakeholders, including the Federal Government, to ensure that off-grid electricity is used. He said when solar, biomass and other off-grid methods of generating electricity is used, the effects of poor power supply would be minimal.

    Adaju said: “While it is obvious that the manufacturers and other formal operators are struggling to record growth due to the reduction in capacity utilisation of workers and other issues, operators in the informal sector are not doing well either. Informal operators spend huge amount of money on providing electricity through generators.

    “People who use smaller generators, known in local parlance as “I better pass my neighbour’’, spend between N1,500 and N2,000 to fuel their generators for between 10 hours and 12 hours daily. This is exorbitant in view of the bad economy. When N1,500 or N2,000 is multiplied by 30 days, it amounts to either N45,000 or N60,000 per month.

    ‘’Operators would not have spent such amount if the government and the private investors that bought the power assets of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) five years ago had stabilised the sector.

  • Artisans seek constant power supply and empowerment 

    The National Association of Tailors (NUT) in Lagos State has appealed to the Governor-elect, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to ensure constant power supply and empower them with funds.

    The Chairlady, Mrs. Oluwaseyi Dada, spoke at the union’s meeting at the Iyana Meiran Branch, Agbado Oke-Odo Local Council Development Authority.

    “We want the Governor-elect, Babajide Sanwoolu, to ensure there is constant power supply and he should empower us with finance,” she said.

    According to Dada, members need constant power supply to meet up with deadlines. “Power failure is a major hindrance, and we want him to prioritise this in his agenda,” she added.

    The Onimeiran of Meiran Kingdom, Dr. Samuel Awoyemi, assured the tailors that the incoming governor will consider their plight and they will reap more dividends of democracy.

    “We are glad that you voted for all APC candidates, and I assure you that you will all reap the dividends of democracy.”

    Supervisor for Agric, Rural and Social Services, Agbado-Oke Odo council, Viola Koyi (JP) said: “The union is making waves even beyond the shores of Nigeria because of the peaceful coexistence among you. I enjoin you to cooperate with the incoming governor.”

  • Abuja Disco promises uninterrupted power supply in Niger

    The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) has pledged to supply 12 hours uninterrupted electricity to Minna and its environs.

    The action is part of agreement reached between the state government and the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company which took place at company’s Headquarters in Abuja.

    Speaking after the meeting, the Deputy Governor of Niger state and Chairman of the Committee on Constant and Quality electricity, Alhaji Ahmed Mohammed Ketso said he hoped AEDC will abide by the nine point agreements reached at the meeting.

    According to him, the 12 hours uninterrupted electricity would be for two months and would be reviewed afterwards.

    The Deputy Governor added that a special committee would be set up to monitor the implementation of the supply by the company.

    He then urged the youths in the state to remain patient with government’s effort to give them the best dividends of democracy.

    Ketso also said that the era of estimated billing would soon be over as pre-paid meters would soon be distributed to customers.

    The nine points agreements reached at the meeting include supply of 12 hours electricity, communicating and informing customers on bottlenecks faced by the company, enhanced relationship between the state government and the company among others.

  • Power supply back in Ondo community

    There was joy yesterday among residents of Igbokoda in Ilaje Ese Odo Local Government Area of Ondo State.

    The people, who had lived in darkness for five years, had power supply yesterday.

    Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo inaugurated the power project facilitated by the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) and Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC).

    Both companies jointly completed work on the rehabilitation of the power project in the town.

    With the inauguration by the Vice-President, who ws accompanied by Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu; BEDC’s Executive Director, Commercial, Mr. Abu Ejoor; Chief Technical Officer (CTO) Ashok Acharya and officials of NDPHC, 10 of the 21 distribution substations in the Igbokoda community became operational.

    Area that were energised yesterday include Larada, General Hospital, secretariat road substation, Ikuomola, Ilara, Orioketilu, Church substation, Okoga College road/Omotehin, GRA1, GRA4/NDDC and Broad Street substations.

    The project, which is still ongoing, is expected to extend to Okitipupa and other parts of Ondo South Senatorial District in due course.

    The restoration achieved by BEDC with the speedy rehabilitation of the power project in conjunction with NDPHC under the national Independent power project (NIPP) will bring positive effects on the social and economic activities in the area.

    Igbokoda has always been the central town for residents of the Ondo South Senatorial District comprising Okitipupa, Ireless, Ilaje, Ese-Odo, Odigbo and Ile-Oluji/Oke-Igbo local government areas due to the presence of several amenities.

  • Govt, DisCos, others urged to improve power supply

    The Federal Government, power distribution companies (DisCos) and gas suppliers have been urged to provide to improve  electricity supply.

    Recently, the Federal Government claimed that the power generation has hit 7,000 megawatts (Mw).

    Research and Planning Director, Association, Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) Sunday Oduntan said a lot needs to be done  to ensure that the sector performs optimally.

    In an interview on phone with The Nation, he urged stakeholders, including the Federal Government to improve liquidity, proffer solution to gas problems, rid the sector of pipeline vandalism among solving other problems, before power supply would improve in the country.

    Oduntan said: “There are some challenges that need to be tackled by many stakeholders especially the Federal Government, the DisCos and gas suppliers. These include lack of liquidity that hampers operations, energy theft and others.

    “The vandalism of facilities that occur too often is also a serious problem that leads to huge deficit. No bank would lend you money unless your business is bankable.

    According to him, liquidity crisis is a major threat to the power sector, adding that the issue has culminated in revenue shortfalls, poor network expansion, and others.

    He said DisCos do not have enough money to repair and replace equipment that is vital to their continued growth in the industry.

    A non-governmental organi-sation,  Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), in a report, blamed the problems on corruption.

    The organisation said allegations of corruption have had catastrophic effects on the lives of millions of Nigerians, akin to crimes against humanity as contemplated under the Rome Statue and within the jurisdiction of the court.

    It said huge amounts of public funds alleged to have been stolen over the years in the electricity sector created these problems.

    “Crimes against humanity are not only physical violence; allegations of corruption in the electricity sector hold a comparable gravity, which the Prosecutor should examine and thoroughly investigate.

    “Corrupt officials and corrupt contractors in the electricity sector know well that their conduct is criminal and injurious, and the denial of human dignity coupled with a radical breach of solemn trust, aggravate their alleged crime,” it added.

  • FECA students hail Akeredolu over power supply

    Student Union Government (SUG) of Federal College of Agriculture, Akure,  Ondo State yesterday commended the  Akeredolu-led administration for  its efforts in improving power supply in the state.

    In a letter jointly signed by the President and the General Secretary of the union, Omotoso Surprise and Osemamhe Emmanuel respectively, the students expressed their appreciation to the administration for “the wonderful job it has done towards improvement of electricity supply on our campus as well as the reconstruction of Fiwasaye – Agbogbo Road streetlights in Akure.”

    They said the development had improved the social and commercial activities as well as the security situation within and around their campus as criminals could no longer operate due to the streetlights.

    Responing on behalf of the governor, his  Special Adviser  on Public Utilities, Engr. Tunji Ariyomo appreciated the students for expressing their gratitude to the governor,  which he noted served as a concrete feedback on the efforts of the administration to making life more comfortable for the citizenry.

  • Power supply: BEDC not doing enough, says Obaseki

    • Edo gets 40% of power allocation, says BEDC

    Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki yesterday asked the  Managing Director (MD) of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), Mrs. Funke Osibodu, out of his office for failing to meet obligations to electricity consumers in the state

    The incident occurred when Obaseki received members of the Federal House of Representatives Committee on Power led by Hon. Daniel Asuquo, who were in Government House, on a visit. The governor took the action because the BEDC boss’ was not listed as one of the expected guests to Government House.

    Speaking to the delegation after Mrs. Osibodu had left the gathering, the governor, according to a media statement from his office, said the BEDC has continued to fail in collaborating with the state government to provide stable electricity in the state, instead the company has posed as an obstacle to meeting the goal.

    “BEDC has been an obstacle all the way. They will not provide electricity and will not allow you to get alternative sources of power. The state will not allow it,” the governor said.

    In a reaction, BEDC said it does not want to join issues with the government, but said the DisCo “remains a responsive and responsible distributor of electricity across the franchise states of Edo, Delta, Ondo and Ekiti committed to serving its customers better.

    “In addition, it is on record that out of the nine per cent allocation that BEDC gets from the national grid, Edo State gets above 40 per cent, while the other three states share the balance. We intend to continue to work towards ensuring that various bottlenecks across the power value chain are eliminated to the benefit of our customers in all our franchise states.”

    BEDC said it would continue to support the good people of Edo State in ensuring that an enabling environment that will create jobs and improvement in the lives of the Edo citizens is sustained.  It should be noted that Edo State has the highest number of prepaid meters all over the country and with the introduction of Meter Asset Provider (MAP) by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory omission (NERC), we shall further accelerate the metering of consumers with effect from first quarter of 2019 when the scheme is expected to kick off, in order to rapidly reduce estimated billing.

     

    As a stop gap on the recent reduction in power supplied to Edo State on some feeders in Central Benin, arrangement was made to connect customers on the affected feeders to existing functional ones in a manner that would not overload the system and to provide supply albeit on limited basis, pending when normal supply will resume after the replacement of the repairs of the faulty transformers.Several announcements have been made on locations affected. We expect normalizing of the situation soonest.

     

    We encourage customers to make use of our existing Customer Complaints Channels when there are issues/complaintswhilst we look forward to serving our customers better.

  • Power supply dips to 2006mw

    …as transmission line trips North East to blackout

     

    The power supply from the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry ( NESI ) at the weekend dropped to 83,570.30mwh (2006mw), according to the Independent System Operator (ISO) of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

    Its operational report of Sunday showed that the industry recorded a peak generation of 4,452mw and lowest generation of 3,041mw on the previous day.

    The report also noted that “energy recorded on 22/09/2018 was 83,570.30MWH.” It however added that the generation at 06:00hour on Sunday was3,340mw.

    The TCN however explained in a press statement that due to the tripping on fault of the Jos-Gombe 330kV Transmission Line, which had just undergone Annual Scheduled Maintenance, the North Eastern States including Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa Borno, Yobe and Taraba are currently out of power supply.

    Its General Manager Public Affairs, Mrs. Ndidi Mbah, who issued the statement noted that the line tripping occurred on 19:09 hour Saturday after it was re-energized.

    All efforts are being made by the company’s line engineering crew to resolve the problem and restore the transmission line accordingly.

    The statement added that the company took advantage of the outage to undertake the Annual Scheduled Maintenance of the 330kV transmission line from Jos to Gombe.

    After the maintenance work has been completed by the combined engineering maintenance crew from Gombe and Jos Transmission Substations, the transmission line was reclosed and energized at about 15:09 hours Saturday at 19:09 hours however, the line tripped due to fault on the line. TCN quickly initiated the patrol of the transmission line to detect and rectify the fault.

    The release noted that as at 18:30pm, on Monday, the line engineering crew patrolling the Jos part of the 330kV transmission line has completed investigations on that part of the line, while the Gombe part of the transmission line trace is still ongoing. The entire line cannot be energized until both ends of the line trace have been concluded. Once completed, the findings would be analyzed and faults cleared, TCN will then re-energized the transmission line.

    Mbah said that the “TCN sincerely regrets inconveniences caused by the outage and also apologizes to the Government and people of the six North Eastern states affected by the outage, while assuring that efforts are ongoing to ensure a speedy completion of the transmission line trace and faults clearance in other to reclose and energize the 330kV transmission line. Please bear with us.”