Friday, 29th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

Power generation rises to 3,874.96MW

By Roseline Okere
09 July 2015   |   5:29 am
Nigeria’s power generation has recorded a new milestone by increasing from 3,655.12 MEGAWATTS HOUR/HOUR (MWH/H) it recorded last week to 3,874.98 MWH/H as at yesterday. The Presidential Taskforce on Power, which made this disclosure yesterday in its generation report, showed that power distribution has increased from 3,565.09 MWH/H to 3,773.90 MWH/H, which is far less…

Power stationNigeria’s power generation has recorded a new milestone by increasing from 3,655.12 MEGAWATTS HOUR/HOUR (MWH/H) it recorded last week to 3,874.98 MWH/H as at yesterday.

The Presidential Taskforce on Power, which made this disclosure yesterday in its generation report, showed that power distribution has increased from 3,565.09 MWH/H to 3,773.90 MWH/H, which is far less than the country’s peak demand forecast of 12,800MW. Power supply has in the last few weeks increased significantly.

For instance, Egbin Power Plc, alone is for the first time in eight years generating above 1,000 megawatts of electricity.

The Chairman, Egbin Power Plc, Kola Adesina, attributed the achievement partly to the direct intervention of the Federal Government in its determination to resolve the power crisis, which had resulted in recent improvements in gas supply.

“This is driving the increase in power supply in the nation and boosting socio-economic development. Prior to this, we had invested heavily and had the plant ready to generate power at full capacity, but there was no gas to do so. This, is indeed, a good development for the power sector in Nigeria,” he said.

Chairman of Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Sam Amadi, expects power generation to peak above 5,500MW in July if on-going repairs on gas supply pipelines are completed.

Meanwhile, a model framework developed by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to cap revenues accruable to electricity distribution companies in Nigeria’s electricity industry from estimated billing methods has revealed that the sector could lose as much as N12.532 billion from the proposed measure in one year.

The framework was contained in a concept note for the capping of monies that distribution companies (Discos) can make from customers on estimated billing methods. It showed that based on the current industry metering gap of 4,462,262, an average sum of N2,352.20 per meter could be forfeited as the yearly opportunity cost for Discos’ reluctance to provide meters to their customers.

NERC has in the proposal opted to cap the monthly billable electricity consumption for three chief tariff cadres in its tariff grouping; R2, C1 and A1 at 125 kilowatts hour per month (kWh/month), 125kWh/month and 100kwH/month respectively.

Consumers on the R2, C1 and A1 tariff groupings are either on single or three-phase connections and use their premises exclusively as a residence, factory for manufacturing goods, as well as agricultural firms, water boards, religious houses, government and teaching hospitals, government research institutes and educational establishments.

NERC’s concept note on the estimated revenue cap explained that about 7,026,573 of electricity customers on R2 tariff cadre consumes an annual average of 9,398,263,687kWh of electricity, out of which 3,770,459 are unmetered and from which N5.805 billion is estimated to be lost in a year from the cap.

From C1 which has 682,544 unmetered customers, N4.004 billion will be cut off from the cap in one year while N2.723 will be cut from A1’s 9258 unmetered customer population within the same period.

The document therefore summed the expected revenue shortfall from the capping as a result of Discos’ seeming reluctance to provide meters to their customers at N12.532 billion, saying: “This is the shortfall the industry stand to suffer due to the cap if the metering level remains the same.”

2 Comments

  • Author’s gravatar

    well if they want to recover that money and more, they should begin effective and immediate metering of all their customer. NERC and the govt has to demand and enforce the metering of the client. as for gas supply, it is time and effective plan is put in place to end the vandalism of pipelines. this pipeline are our national treasure and it should be guarded in that manner.

  • Author’s gravatar

    The govt should allow the importation of prepaid meters at affordable cost, it does not have to be DISCOS any