By Obas Esiedesa, Abuja

The Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) has called on the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) to support the dispatch of 2,000 megawatts of stranded electricity currently lying idle across its power plants.

Managing Director/CEO of NDPHC, Engr. Jennifer Adighije, made the appeal during a courtesy visit to the NISO headquarters on Thursday. She was accompanied by the Executive Director (Legal Services), Dr. Steven Andzenge, and Abiose Olayiwola, Chief Operating Officer of Geregu Power Plant.

Adighije emphasized the need for fairer treatment of NDPHC in power load allocation, noting that despite owning the largest portfolio of generation assets in the country, the company is often overlooked due to the absence of a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET).

“We are actively working on bilateral agreements with eligible customers to optimize our stranded capacity,” she said. “However, equitable treatment in the market is essential for us to fully contribute to national power supply.”

Adighije noted that several generating units had been recovered across NDPHC’s power stations, and revealed that the Alaoji Power Plant, which has been offline for two years, is expected to return to the grid by August.

“Since I assumed office, our focus has been on optimization—improving operations and commercializing our stranded capacity. In just nine months, we have improved plant availability by over 100%. Another unit at Omotosho will be recovered by the end of this month,” she said.

The NDPHC boss lamented that despite being the largest investor in Nigeria’s power sector—with over 50 330kV substations, 25 132kV substations, and more than 9,000 MVA in added transformer capacity—the company was not receiving adequate dispatch consideration.

“NDPHC is government-owned and has made massive contributions across the electricity value chain. We expect this to be taken into account when decisions about dispatch are made,” she added.

In response, Engr. Abdu Bello, Managing Director of NISO, assured Adighije that NDPHC would be treated fairly like all other players in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).

“You are the largest utility in Nigeria, with 10 power stations and a minimum of 5,000MW installed capacity. If we can optimize that capacity, Nigeria will be better for it,” Bello said.

He noted that NISO was already introducing measures to strengthen and expand the national grid and would continue to work with key stakeholders like NDPHC to enhance electricity generation and distribution across the country.

“NISO is committed to optimizing the national grid and supporting participants like NDPHC to improve the country’s power base,” Bello affirmed.