Despite the commissioning of three
new National Integrated Power Plants (NIPPs) by President Goodluck
Jonathan recently, the country’s power generation is still abysmally
poor at below 3,700 megawatts (MW).
The newly commissioned NIPPs are 434MW Geregu II in Ondo State, 528MW Omotosho II in Ondo State and the recently commissioned 750MW Olorunsogo II located in Ogun State, expected to add a combined generation capacity of 1,712MW to the grid network.
But according to the broadcast on the official website of the ministry of power, by February 23, 2015, peak generation was 3,866.8MW as against a peak demand forecast of 12,800MW. The highest peak ever generated in the country is 4,517.6MW, recorded prior to privatization on December 23, 2012, the broadcast showed.
This leaves Nigerians to wonder the impact of privatization so far on power generation.
Meanwhile, findings by LEADERSHIP revealed that none of the NIPPs are working at even half their installed capacities as investigations showed that as at February 21, 2015, the 434MW Geregu II was generating a peak of 110MW, while Omotosho II with an installed capacity of 500MW was generating only 94MW.
According to a data on national power generation statistics by the (NCC), Osogbo, Olorunsogo II, which was commissioned last week by the president, with an installed capacity of 750MW, generated a peak capacity of 239MW by February 21, 2015; thus, the three plants contributed a combined actual generation of 443MW to the national grid by February 21, 2015 instead of 1,712MW.
Further findings revealed that next in line for commissioning is the Ihovbor NIPP which generated a peak of 223MW out of its 450MW installed capacity, while the Sapele NIP, which would likely follow Ihovbor, generated a peak of 115.9MW out of its installed capacity of 451MW by February 21, 2015, according to the NCC data.
It was further observed that the poor performance of the power plants also extends to the privatised PHCN plants as Olorunsogo I, with an installed capacity of 335MW, generated a peak of 192.3MW, while Egbin, currently the nation’s biggest power plant, with an installed capacity 1,320MW, generated a peak of 441MW, the data showed.
However, when contacted, the management of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), managers of the NIPPs, explained that the inability of the NIPPs to generate power at full capacity was due to gas supply constraints, given that they are all gas-fired plants.
NDPHC spokesman, Yakubu Lawal, told LEADERSHIP that the plants were ready to run at full capacity if they get adequate supply of gas.
Lawal further stated that at the time of commissioning the OLorunsogo II plant, the plant could only get gas supply sufficient to run one and a half units of the six units at the plant.
He said: “All these plants are brand new plants and ready to operate at full capacity, but the challenge is gas supply. All the units are ready to turn out this power if adequate gas is supplied, so that is the challenge,” Lawal said.
Meanwhile, Industry owners and employers of labour have said that the recent tariff increase by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), if not reviewed downwards, could force them to shut down their operations.
The factory owners, who stated this yesterday in Abuja at a NERC-organized consumer forum, stated that the new tariff contained in the Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO 2.1), which came to effect on January 1, 2015, is the highest in the world, and makes the business in the country unsustainable.
The Ikeja Branch coordinator of Steel Manufacturers Group, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Felix Okojie, while speaking at the forum, said NERC must revert to the old MYTO which took effect from June 2012 and was expected to run till 2017.
Frowning at the sudden tariff increase, Okojie said: “It is like nobody is actually thinking about the progress of industries in the country; you do not just wake up from nowhere and begin to disrupt a long term plan.
“In the MYTO, it was not mentioned that the five-year plan, which started on June 1, 2012, was going to be distorted at any time. The explanation that they have the right to adjust it at any time is completely new to us.”
According to him, NERC’s decision to increase the fixed charge for industries supplied by Ikeja Disco from N750 to N198, 447 translates to an attempt to destroy the manufacturing sector and render Nigerians jobless.
Okojie noted that a comparative analysis of the cost of energy in Nigeria against other countries showed that Nigerian businesses pay the highest electricity tariff in the world despite epileptic power supply.
Also speaking on behalf of hotel owners, Chike Ezekwe noted that business owners were not consulted nor their interest taken into account before the new tariff was announced on January 1.
He said, “Since January, power supply has been very low, yet the bill has been increased astronomically; so whether you consume or not, you will have to pay the new bill. There is nowhere else in the world where a model like this can be sustained,.
Earlier, NERC chairman, Dr Sam Amadi, had assured the consumers that the commission was committed to ensuring a fair, reasonable and affordable cost-effective tariff for the sector.
According to Amadi, the design of the tariff regime is based on the twin principle of allowing recovery of prudent cost incurred by an efficient operator, and ensuring that customers pay only fair, reasonable and affordable tariff.
He said power supply was unstable in the country because the right investment had not been made, adding that “the huge capacity gap in the sector cannot be met by public finance alone.”
He added that the commission was impressing on the new owners the need to invest in embedded generation for industrial clusters, to reduce their tariff.
The newly commissioned NIPPs are 434MW Geregu II in Ondo State, 528MW Omotosho II in Ondo State and the recently commissioned 750MW Olorunsogo II located in Ogun State, expected to add a combined generation capacity of 1,712MW to the grid network.
But according to the broadcast on the official website of the ministry of power, by February 23, 2015, peak generation was 3,866.8MW as against a peak demand forecast of 12,800MW. The highest peak ever generated in the country is 4,517.6MW, recorded prior to privatization on December 23, 2012, the broadcast showed.
This leaves Nigerians to wonder the impact of privatization so far on power generation.
Meanwhile, findings by LEADERSHIP revealed that none of the NIPPs are working at even half their installed capacities as investigations showed that as at February 21, 2015, the 434MW Geregu II was generating a peak of 110MW, while Omotosho II with an installed capacity of 500MW was generating only 94MW.
According to a data on national power generation statistics by the (NCC), Osogbo, Olorunsogo II, which was commissioned last week by the president, with an installed capacity of 750MW, generated a peak capacity of 239MW by February 21, 2015; thus, the three plants contributed a combined actual generation of 443MW to the national grid by February 21, 2015 instead of 1,712MW.
Further findings revealed that next in line for commissioning is the Ihovbor NIPP which generated a peak of 223MW out of its 450MW installed capacity, while the Sapele NIP, which would likely follow Ihovbor, generated a peak of 115.9MW out of its installed capacity of 451MW by February 21, 2015, according to the NCC data.
It was further observed that the poor performance of the power plants also extends to the privatised PHCN plants as Olorunsogo I, with an installed capacity of 335MW, generated a peak of 192.3MW, while Egbin, currently the nation’s biggest power plant, with an installed capacity 1,320MW, generated a peak of 441MW, the data showed.
However, when contacted, the management of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), managers of the NIPPs, explained that the inability of the NIPPs to generate power at full capacity was due to gas supply constraints, given that they are all gas-fired plants.
NDPHC spokesman, Yakubu Lawal, told LEADERSHIP that the plants were ready to run at full capacity if they get adequate supply of gas.
Lawal further stated that at the time of commissioning the OLorunsogo II plant, the plant could only get gas supply sufficient to run one and a half units of the six units at the plant.
He said: “All these plants are brand new plants and ready to operate at full capacity, but the challenge is gas supply. All the units are ready to turn out this power if adequate gas is supplied, so that is the challenge,” Lawal said.
Meanwhile, Industry owners and employers of labour have said that the recent tariff increase by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), if not reviewed downwards, could force them to shut down their operations.
The factory owners, who stated this yesterday in Abuja at a NERC-organized consumer forum, stated that the new tariff contained in the Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO 2.1), which came to effect on January 1, 2015, is the highest in the world, and makes the business in the country unsustainable.
The Ikeja Branch coordinator of Steel Manufacturers Group, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Felix Okojie, while speaking at the forum, said NERC must revert to the old MYTO which took effect from June 2012 and was expected to run till 2017.
Frowning at the sudden tariff increase, Okojie said: “It is like nobody is actually thinking about the progress of industries in the country; you do not just wake up from nowhere and begin to disrupt a long term plan.
“In the MYTO, it was not mentioned that the five-year plan, which started on June 1, 2012, was going to be distorted at any time. The explanation that they have the right to adjust it at any time is completely new to us.”
According to him, NERC’s decision to increase the fixed charge for industries supplied by Ikeja Disco from N750 to N198, 447 translates to an attempt to destroy the manufacturing sector and render Nigerians jobless.
Okojie noted that a comparative analysis of the cost of energy in Nigeria against other countries showed that Nigerian businesses pay the highest electricity tariff in the world despite epileptic power supply.
Also speaking on behalf of hotel owners, Chike Ezekwe noted that business owners were not consulted nor their interest taken into account before the new tariff was announced on January 1.
He said, “Since January, power supply has been very low, yet the bill has been increased astronomically; so whether you consume or not, you will have to pay the new bill. There is nowhere else in the world where a model like this can be sustained,.
Earlier, NERC chairman, Dr Sam Amadi, had assured the consumers that the commission was committed to ensuring a fair, reasonable and affordable cost-effective tariff for the sector.
According to Amadi, the design of the tariff regime is based on the twin principle of allowing recovery of prudent cost incurred by an efficient operator, and ensuring that customers pay only fair, reasonable and affordable tariff.
He said power supply was unstable in the country because the right investment had not been made, adding that “the huge capacity gap in the sector cannot be met by public finance alone.”
He added that the commission was impressing on the new owners the need to invest in embedded generation for industrial clusters, to reduce their tariff.
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