Stakeholders blame poor funding for erratic power supply
NAN-HE-3
Power
Raji Rasak and Yunus Yusuf
Lagos, Nov. 23, 2016 (NAN) Some stakeholders in Lagos State have attributed the current challenges in the power sector in the country to huge operational hitches confronting the operators.
They made the observation in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Wednesday.
The stakeholders spoke against the backdrop of constant power outage, poor billing system and corruption still bedeviling the sector even after privitisation.
The privatisation of the sector was to address these perennial issues.
At the conclusion of the power sector reforms in 2013, the general belief was that power generation would improve substantially beyond the old range of 3, 500 and 5,200 megawatts.
But the power generation is still in the same range, while new problems of power distribution and transmission have compounded the situation.
Mr Charles Fashola, the Managing Director, Seacof Engineering Ltd. in Lagos, said that some of the challenges were due to insufficient power generation, obsolete facilities, poor manpower, poor customer database and low meter distribution, among others.
He said that absence of new investments in the sector had worsened power supply in the country.
Mr Simon Andrew, a power consultant, said that the major problems of the new investors were revenue and funding challenges.
Andrew, who is also the Managing Partner, Slongy Power Consultant Ltd., said these operational challenges would continue until there was adequate funding and improvement in revenue profile of Discos.
According to him, the entire electricity sector is faced with huge revenue shortfall.
“The implementation of cost reflective tariffs, access to long-term debt capital and equity injection will still not address the revenue shortfall in the system in the short term.
“It must be understood that there is time lag between the period these investments are made and the accrual of benefits
“Even if all the required financing were available today, it would take time for technical and non-technical losses to be addressed.
“For instance, it takes between nine to 12 months to build injection substations; it will take at least two years for a Disco to address its metering gap,’’ he said.
Mr Kola Adeshina, the Chairman, Egbin Power Plant, also said that electricity supply would not be stable in the country until the issue of pricing was adequately addressed.
He said that the right pricing would solve the financial problem of operators which had incapacitated them.
Adeshina also said that there should be provision for alternative sources of gas because most of the power plants in the country lacked gas supply.
Mr Godwin Idemudia, the General Manager, Corporate Communications, Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), said that the market should be opened up more than what it was now.
According to him, owners of distribution companies that could afford to generate should be allowed to do so and distribute within their area of operations.
“This idea of all Gencos sending power to Oshogbo before it is now sent back to the various Discos should be critically looked into.
“The banks should give credit facilities to the Discos more than they are doing presently.
“The activities of the militants in the Niger Delta are nothing helping matters at all. Apart from creating bad image for the country, they are not encouraging potential investors.
“The Disco owners should be given enough time to meter their customers.
“Increase in the exchange rate is another factor that has hindered the positive plans of the investors,” he said.
Alhaji Abdul-Rasak Osho, the Chairman, Iponri Housing Estate Residents’ Association, said that much improvement might not be achieved in the sector until corruption was reduced to minimal level.
Osho gave example of metering of consumers by distribution companies, saying that more than half of consumers were yet to be metered three years after the directives by Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Company.
“In my area, most of the houses are still on analogue meters and all these meters are not being read by their officials.
“Apart from this, if there is any fault either from transformers or from cable that supplies the estate, the officials will ask landlords to contribute money to buy another cable or to repair the fault.
“If only government can eliminate corruption in power sector and increase the capacity of our transmission, I am sure electricity supply will improve in the country,” he said. (NAN)
ROR/YO/TA
Edited by Tajudeen Atitebi