By Etuka Sunday
The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo has threatened to sanction Distribution Companies (Discos) that are rejecting electricity load allocations in the country.
Nebo while giving his scorecard at the Ministerial Platform yesterday in Abuja, expressed worries that some electricity distribution companies refused to stock their warehouses with equipments
therefore find it difficult to respond speedily to customers’ demands.
He therefore warned that, “from henceforth, any Disco that rejects electricity load allocation would be sanctioned or has its license withdrawn.”
In a related development, the Chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Sam Amadi while answering questions on metering said, if anybody pays for meter under Credited Advance
Payment for Metering Implementation (CAPMI) to any Disco and is not installed after 45 days, such Disco would be fined N5,000 for single phase, and N10,000 for three phases.
Meanwhile, the Minister said, “the national grid is limited in reach.
The available electricity is insufficient to meet existing power needs, in spite of shortage, government is making effort to electrify the rural communities.”
He said it was in a bid to bridge the electricity deficit in the rural areas, that Mr President flagged off Operation Light Up Rural Nigeria (OLRN) Initiative on January 13th, 2014 at Durumi, Shape and
Waru in the FCT using renewable energy. Adding, that plans are underway to replicate OLRN pilot across the 36 states of the Federation.
Nebo who pegged the current power generation in the country at 4,600 megawatts said, 5,500 megawatts of electricity would be achieved by December end.
On stranded power in the country, Nebo said, government in its efforts to get stranded power unto the grid, identified a number of companies willing to generate power and export to the grid. The Federal Ministry of Power is coordinating the process with its relevant Agencies.
According to him, the companies are: Ajaokuta Steel Company, 85mw; ALSCON, 100mw; Lafarge Cement, 40mw; Obajana Cement Plc, 35mw; Kaduna Refinery, 33.5mw; Geometric 22mw and NESCO, 26mw respectively.
On Transmission, he said, $1.65 billion has been put in place by the federal government to aide transmission projects, adding that “TCN has been able to complete several projects and a lot more are ongoing to improve the wheeling capacity of the transmission network nationwide.”
He said, TCN has successfully put in place a Spinning Reserve in the Power System which is around 295mw to prevent collapse and maintain the frequency within permissible band.
He listed several support from bilateral partners in form of loans to include: World Bank, $700million; JICA, $200million; AFD Bank, $370million; NIPP Additions, $1.65million; EXIM China, $500million and
Contractor financed Turnkey Projects, $1billion.
He appealed to Nigerians to be patient as it may take awhile before power gets to everybody in the country.
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