By Udeme Akpan

Electricity generation has been affected in eight power plants as a result of feeder challenge.

The affected plants included Afam VI, Shiroro, Jebba, Odukpani, Geregu I, Omotosho I, Olorunsogo II, and Transcorp Ughelli.

Consequently, the Electricity Generation Companies, GENCOs, have not been able to generate adequate power for transmission and distribution in the nation.

The Advisory Power Team report that made this disclosure stated:  “On July 10 2017, average power sent out was 3,481 MWh/hour (up by 367 MWh/h). The reported gas constraint was 644MW.  The reported line constraint was 58.3MW. The reported frequency management constraints due to loss of DisCo feeders was 1704MW.

“The water management constraint was 0MW. The power sector lost an estimated N1, 155,000,000 on July 10, 2017 due to constraints.”

electricity

Investigation showed that many parts of the nation have been thrown into darkness as the GENCOs and DISCOs struggle to fix different problems.

It also showed that some parts of Lagos mainland do not have power supply as a result of limited allocation and damaged facilities.

For instance, some parts of Ketu and its environs, which are under Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (ikedc) have not experienced supply for almost two weeks, a development an official of the company attributed to ‘damaged’ facility at Maryland.

It was gathered that the development has crippled economic and other activities in the area, thus causing residents to take to the generation of their electricity at higher cost.

However, Nigeria’s power sector may be in for hard times as both foreign and local investors are no longer willing to do business in it, Vanguard has learnt.

According to the Power Sector Recovery Programme, PSRP, which was initiated by the Federal Government and the World Bank, the sector appears to have lost its appeals to investors, both foreign and local, such that many of its sources of funding projects are no longer available.

Consequently, the sector is left with just two dependable funding windows, which are the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the World Bank.

“From being an investment destination sought after in 2013 – both at home and abroad, the NESI (Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry) has fallen out of favour,” a document of the PSRP sighted by Vanguard stated.

According to the document, “With the recent meetings in Abuja of the DFI/MDBs (Development Finance Institutions and Multilateral Development Banks) over issues concerning the currency redenomination of the Put-Call Option Agreement (PCOA), there now remains only two dependable sources of financing for the NESI: NGN – the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); USD – the World Bank Group (WBG).”

Regretting that the power sector may have lost the type of investment attraction it had experienced from financiers, the PSRP explained that there was an urgent need to revive its fortunes.

“A bold turnaround plan is now required to utilise current assets and resources optimally, and to restore investor confidence in the sector, required to deliver the planned sector reforms,” it stated.

The document noted that there are several proposals made to get the sector out from the woods, some of which are the government’s reactivation of the privatisation of some key power plants built under the National Integrated Power Projects, NIPPs, as well as other key policy measures which the government must initiate.

Nigeria has been seeking ways to invest $20billion yearly in the sector over the next five years to generate 20,000 megawatts (Mw) of electricity to boost power supply.

However, sources said foreign investors have rejected the invitation of the Federal Government to invest in the power sector because of its low prospects.