Nigeria’s power supply situation continued on a steady decline over the last three months- between July and September with average daily supply from the national grid to homes and businesses falling to 3,473 megawatts (MW) in September, according to an operational report from the Office of the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.
Coming at a period when key operators in the power sector are intensely engaged in various forms of bickering over their operational conditions, the industry statistics which was obtained on Tuesday showed that between July and September, a period of three months, average daily power generation and distribution was 3,557MW.
The data which the Advisory Power Team in Osinbajo’s office put out, showed that in July, the average daily supply to Nigerians was 3,676MW, which dropped to 3,526MW in August and further down to 3,473MW in September.
Within the period, the average volume of constrained electricity – that is electricity that could not get to homes and offices due to various challenges such as low gas supply; unavailability of transmission and distribution infrastructure; as well as water management challenges, was 4,013MW.
The report explained that in July, the volume of constrained power was 3,872MW, which however rose to 4,020MW in August and further to 4,147MW in September, resulting in the loss of N57.619 billion, N59.820 billion and N59.714 billion which were respectively not earned by the sector within the three months period.
Through a ten-day power production assessment our correspondent did for the three months under consideration, the country could not produce up to the 4,000MW customary production figure government officials often quoted as average daily power production level of the country.
For example, on July 1, the available volume of power to the grid was 3,526MW which rose to 3,830MW on July 10 but subsequently down to 3,645MW before closing the month on a 3,750MW generation level.
On August 1, it was down to 3,733MW and further to 3,482MW on August 10, and then 3,673MW and 3,361MW on August 20 and 31.
By September 1, power on the grid dropped to 3,176MW and then up to 3,637MW on September 10, before falling to 3,595MW on September 20 and then ending the month on a paltry 3,380MW production level.
Osinbajo’s office in this regard reiterated that the constraints to improve power supply in the country were insufficient gas supply, poor distribution and transmission infrastructure.
“On September 30, 2019, average energy sent out was 3,38mwh/H/ (down by 162.02MWH/Hour from the previous day) 1911MW was not generated due to unavailability of gas. 112.5MW was not generated due to unavailability of transmission infrastructure, while 1,776MW was not generated due to high frequency resulting from the unavailability of distribution infrastructure.,” said the report.
However, within this period, the country witnessed the electricity distribution companies (Discos) consistently bickered with the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) over alleged mismanagement of electricity loads, with the TCN accusing the Discos of rejecting loads allocated to them because they lacked the capacity to distribute as much electricity as possibly generated to the grid by the power generation companies (Gencos).
The Gencos equally, on the other hand, disagreed with the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company Plc (NBET), alleging the company unilaterally imposed a 0.75 per cent levy on them as administrative charges for paying their gas invoices.
The Gencos claimed the NBET had also made efforts to take over payment of their gas invoices as a pre-condition for them to benefit from a new N600 billion intervention package from the federal government, while their monthly earnings for power produced for the grid further dropped.
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