The poor supply of electricity being witnessed across the country currently is as a result of a significant drop in power generation from a peak of 4,517 megawatts attained on December 21, 2012 to 3,443MW on Tuesday.
The 1,074MW drop is, however, a slight improvement over the 2,987.6MW peak generation recorded on April 6, 2013, when a whopping 1,529.4MW was lost.
The drop in power generation, our correspondent gathered from the Ministry of Power, was as a result of low gas supply to thermal power plants.
The power generation report provided by the Ministry of Power revealed that peak generation as of Saturday was 2,987.6 MW, while the peak demand forecast was 10,200MW. Energy generation was put at 68,953.24 megawatts hours, while the actual energy sent out was 67,360.24MWH.
This is considered by power industry analysts as a huge break from the highest peak generation of 4,517 MW on December 21, 2012 and 98,580MWH energy on December 19, 2012, one of the highest ever sent out in the country.
The Executive Operations Summary issued by the General Manager, National Control Centre, Osogbo, Mr. A. Alade, on December 4, 2012, revealed that the previous energy peak was 96,768.53MWH recorded on August 31, 2012.
When contacted, the Assistant Director, Press, Power Ministry, Mrs. Pat Deworitshe, confirmed that power generation had dropped and ascribed the development to “general system collapse.”
“There is a general system collapse. I just spoke with the MD, Power Generation Station, Egbin, and he said there is a general system collapse. However, we are trying our best to fix it so that everybody can enjoy power supply,” she said.
The PUNCH had on February 16, 2013 reported that the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, condemned the frequent rate of system failures in the power sector.
Nebo, who spoke at the opening of a retreat organised by the Presidential Task Force on Power in Abuja, described the development as embarrassing and warned system owners and managers to sit up because such would no longer be tolerated.
The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Power, Mr. Patrick Ikhariale, alleged that apart from Egbin Power Plc, all the power generating companies in the country were functioning at less than 40 per cent capacity.
The minister also warned that distribution companies that sabotaged their revenue targets would be sanctioned in accordance with the law.
He said, “I have observed with grave concern the increasing frequency of system collapse of our grid and hereby encourage the operatives of this segment in the TCN to be extra diligent and vigilant.
“I shall not entertain frivolous reasons for continued system collapses. Owners of this process must sit up or be prepared to ship out. Another area of serious concern, which needed to be addressed, is the poor track record of project delivery across the value chain, and especially in the transmission segment, which will remain in government’s hands.
“Without a major shift towards improved efficiency, it could frustrate the development of a sustainable private sector-driven power market in Nigeria, and it is a veritable option in order to align to internationally acceptable business standards, thus, I will insist on this shift to happen soon.”
Nebo added, “As we progress into the threshold of handing over the sold assets to the successful bidders, the distribution companies must sit up during this transition period. Any of the officers in the distribution companies found to be sabotaging the revenue collection targets of the market will be made to face the full wrought of the law.
“This is because government will not tolerate complacency and ineptitude of these companies building up additional burdens of liabilities through the misconduct of these companies.”