Many homes in Nigeria are in darkness, while some are not enjoying better electricity supply because Distribution Companies (DISCOs) are rejecting the power supplied to them by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), the was the revelation at a national conference of the power sector in Abuja recently.
Group Managing Director of the state-oil firm, Maikana Baru said at the conference that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has enough gas volumes to sustain 5,000MW of electricity supply on a dailybasis but supply has been constrained by the attithde of the DISCOs who reject power Supply from the TCN.
Baru noted that gas supply to power plants has grown from 380vmmscfd in 2010 to 850vmmscfd in 2016, adding that the NNPC can sustain generation of about 5,000MW of thermal energy today.
Stakeholders who spoke on the poor performance of the players in the power sector attributed this to the lack of a strong regulatory authority, which is not able to enforce the contratual agreement enetered into by stakeholders in the inudstry. Joseph Makoju, a former managing director of the defunct National electric Power Authority (NEPA) admitting that the performance of the of the power companies has been poor, stressed that there is no going back on the privatisation of the power sector.
Stakeholders who spoke on the poor performance of the players in the power sector attributed this to the lack of a strong regulatory authority, which is not able to enforce the contratual agreement enetered into by stakeholders in the inudstry. Joseph Makoju, a former managing director of the defunct National electric Power Authority (NEPA) admitting that the performance of the of the power companies has been poor, stressed that there is no going back on the privatisation of the power sector.
"Nobody is putting this on the tablenow. What we are say is this; even though we are experiencing some disapointment in the power sector, what we should do is to go back to the drawing board.
"I think there is any fear that the power companies should go back to government ownership. At any rate, there are still some power plants that are doing well," said Makoju.
''The bottom line is that performance is below expectation and this is a serious concern to everybody' Makoju, however, commended the TCN for making great strides, adding that it has the capacity on daily basis to wheel what is being produced but the power is being rejected at the receiving end (DISCOs).
"The fear of those who reject it is that people may not pay for the power. This makes the system
frequency high, so they are constanly under tension and this has often led to system collapse.
"If there is low supply, it leads to system collapse and if there is high tension it also would lead to sy-em collapse. The only problem the transmission has now is that it does not get money to maintain its system,
"I think there is any fear that the power companies should go back to government ownership. At any rate, there are still some power plants that are doing well," said Makoju.
''The bottom line is that performance is below expectation and this is a serious concern to everybody' Makoju, however, commended the TCN for making great strides, adding that it has the capacity on daily basis to wheel what is being produced but the power is being rejected at the receiving end (DISCOs).
"The fear of those who reject it is that people may not pay for the power. This makes the system
frequency high, so they are constanly under tension and this has often led to system collapse.
"If there is low supply, it leads to system collapse and if there is high tension it also would lead to sy-em collapse. The only problem the transmission has now is that it does not get money to maintain its system,
(C) Businessday
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