Despite complaints, GenCos claim Nigerians not consuming enough electricity produced

The Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC) on Thursday, lamented that the electricity consumption demand of Nigerians were not encouraging its members to generate more.

The group said Nigerians do not make total use of electricity generated, even as the group enumerated the challenges bedevilling the power sector as the country continues to struggle to revamp the sector.

Dr Joy Ogaji, APGC Executive Secretary, made this disclosure on Thursday, during a panel session at the Association of Energy Correspondents of Nigeria (NAEC) Strategic International Conference in Lagos.

The topic of the session was: ”Power Sector Dilemma: Issues, Challenges, Opportunities and Strategic Key Solutions.”

According to her, generation companies were being owed about N1.75 trillion for power generated for the electricity market since 2013.

Ogaji further said the liquidity challenge of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry had made operating in the generation value chain very difficult for the companies.

GenCos are currently owing their gas suppliers about N1 trillion and also servicing loans used for acquisition of the companies in 2013, she noted.

The APGC scribe further said the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET) needs to intensify efforts to ensure remittances by the 11 electricity Distribution Companies for energy consumed by their customers.

She said GenCos were ready to generate the power needed in Nigeria, but utilisation had been stagnated in the country for a long time due to transmission and distribution constraints.

“Just to give you a context, on Nov.1, 2013, when the privatisation took place, power was 3,427MW on the day of takeover.

“On Dec. 1, 2013, power had gone from 3,427MW to over 4,003MW and by 2020 it had gone up to nearly 8,000MW,” she said.

Ogaji said, however, that the average uptake of power from the GenCos was about 4,000MWh from 2013 to date which was not good for business.

“So, this does not encourage any investor to keep investing because clearly, it shows that your product is not needed.

“Notwithstanding how Nigerians are always saying give us power, but generation production is driven by demand.

Read also: GENCOs give reasons for poor electricity as supply plunges to 1,393.40MW

“When demand is not moving in line with the production, the producer is not incentivised to produce and this is a major problem,” she said.

Ogaji also decried the lack of access to foreign exchange by GenCos which had become a major challenge to their operations in recent times.

Earlier in the week, the heads of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), and the Ministers of Power and Finance were invited by the House of Representatives to discuss a $33 million Azura power purchase agreement.

Other organisations invited were the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission, Transmission Company of Nigeria, and Nigeria Bulk Electricity Transmission (NERC).

The heads of all the agencies were invited to a meeting in Abuja on Tuesday by Rep. James Faleke, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Finance, which is looking into suspected contract violations and ongoing power outages around the nation.

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