Transmission Company of Nigeria accuses electricity distribution companies of rejecting power loads allocated to them while the later blames the federal government for their act, saying it reneged on pre-privatisation agreements

• Anayo Ezugwu

DESPITE the epileptic power supply in Nigeria, the electricity distribution companies, Discos, still reject electricity loads allocated to them by the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN. TCN report on load allocation between August 27, and September 3, showed that the Discos rejected a total of 22,277.53 megawatts, MW, of power produced by power generation companies, Gencos.

The transmission company in its report on Tuesday, September 12, decried the habit of the Discos in refusing to take maximum electricity loads allocated to them for distribution to their various consumers. This is despite current records from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, and the International Renewable Energy Agency, IRENA, indicating that more than 89 million Nigerian citizens do not have any form of electricity connections to their homes.

The Discos, according to TCN records, have refused to take up an average of 2,784.6MW every day for distribution to their customers, thereby suggesting that the rejected volumes were produced by the Gencos, and the TCN willing to transmit them.

According to the records obtained from the System Operator’s website, the Discos collectively rejected a total of 1,351.47MW; the next day, they allowed a whopping 3,129.05MW to waste; while on August 30, they simply could not take up 2,841.1MW that was generated.

Similarly, their load rejection acts continued on August 31, when they failed to accept 2,656.46MW of power that was generated; on September 1, they could not take 2,713.95MW; as well as on September 2 and 3, when they could not take 3,010.59MW and 3,267.17MW, respectively. According to the record, Ikeja, Ibadan, and Enugu Discos were among the top in the load rejection acts of the Discos.

The record showed the load rejection acts of the Discos to include: August 27: Abuja Disco – 143.27MW; Benin Disco – 134.71MW; Eko Disco -92.97MW; Enugu Disco -166.33MW; Ibadan Disco – 172.11MW; Ikeja – 396.24MW; Jos – 79.14MW; Kaduna – 117.43MW; Kano – 32.22MW; Port Harcourt Disco – 3.14MW; Yola Disco – 13.91MW.

But the Discos have blamed the federal government for their rejection of loads allocated to them, a situation that is worsening the poor power supply in the country. The Discos alleged that the government reneged on all pre-privatisation agreements, making it difficult for them to deliver efficient services.

The implications are that until the federal government fulfils its part of the pre-privatisation agreements with stakeholders in the power sector, including increasing electricity tariff, and the Discos invest and expand their distribution network for efficient service delivery, reliable power supply will continue to elude Nigerians.

Sunday Oduntan, director of research and advocacy, Association of Nigeria Electricity Distributors, ANED, told Realnews that at the time of the handover of the privatised entities within the power sector on November 1, 2013, there was a performance agreement signed between the Discos and the federal government. He alleged that the federal government had not fulfilled its own part of the agreement which included the non-implementation of cost reflective tariffs.

Oduntan explained that the government’s roles in the deal were preconditions for efficient service delivery by the Discos, the Gencos and other stakeholders in the sector. “In that agreement, there is a list of what the federal government was going to do and what we as operators, the Discos, Gencos and investors are to do. But unfortunately, the government reneged on all its obligations and promises. And those things that the government offered to do, they were essentially preconditions.

“That is, if I do this, you will do that. So, if I don’t do this, you will not be able to do that. An example is the issue of tariffs. From day one, the term they used was cost reflective tariff. The simple meaning of that is what can be called appropriate pricing of products. Tariff is about price and electricity is the product.

“If the product is not appropriately priced, then you will be running at a loss. If you’re running at a loss, then you’ll be hampered to the extent of further investment that you can make. We have invested in the system but the investment is not enough obviously because the business is not bankable. The business is not bankable because we are the ones carrying the deficit of the industry in our own books,” he said.

 – Sept 15, 2017 @ 10:57 GMT |