…Payment for transformers, wires, poles persist as supply averages 4,000MW
In what many industry players and consumer rights groups described as payment for darkness, Nigerians, in the past eight years, have spent about N5.7 trillion on the supply of electricity as supply averages 4,000 megawatts, (MWs), about the same level it was eight years ago.
According to statistics from Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc, an average of N720 billion worth of electricity bills are processed yearly in the country, bringing the cost to about N5.7 trillion in the last eight years. These bills are settled by electricity users in the country, with measurable subsidies from the Federal Government.
While the practice of load shedding and electricity rationing is currently on-going across the distribution companies (DisCos) serving the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT), intense concerns are mounting over the worsening state of power supply in the country.
Recall that the Federal Government had privatised the power sector on November 1, 2013, with expectations that supply to homes and industries would by now exceed 40,000MW megawatts; however, data obtained by newsmen from the Electricity System Operator showed that available electricity in the country was a meagre 4,224.9MW.
Although the data showed that grid generation installed capacity stands at 13,014.14MW, actual generation capacity was put at 7,652.6MW, while transmission wheeling capacity hovers at 8,100MW.
Transmission and distribution bottlenecks compound realities as the country only improved supply to consumers by a mere 400MW since privatisation. According to operators, electricity on the grid on November 1, 2013, when the sector was privatised was around 3,400MW, meaning that the sector had been struggling with power generation and supply in the past eight years.
The highest peak power ever generated and transmitted in the country was 5,802MW on March 1, 2021. Power generation dropped further to 3,844.3MW, data obtained from the Federal Ministry of Power has shown.
To heighten the collapse of the service delivery, consumer rights advocates have decried the continuous monetary contributions under community development to acquire electricity transformers, poles, wires and other necessary services in privately-owned distribution companies.
To worsen the development, the national electricity grid, in the space of eight years, has collapsed for more than 130 times despite over $1.6 billion investment pumped into the transmission segment of the sector from donor funds and borrowings from the World Bank and the African Development Bank.
While the Federal Government had spent about N1.7 trillion on the sector with plans to spend an additional $3 billion, the new Power Minister, Aliyu, had admitted on the backdrop of increased tariff in electricity that the quality of service in terms of hours of supply, voltage, disputed/estimated bills, or having no access to electricity, remained poor.
