The rejection of load
allocations from power generating plants by some electricity distribution
companies is one of the factors preventing the country from fully benefitting
from the 6,500 megawatts generation capacity of the existing power plants.
Our correspondent gathered that
some power plant units were being shut due to high frequency occasioned by the
inability of the distribution companies to pick their load allocations.
For instance, the nation lost
about 2,821.5MW of electricity generation on Monday partly due to the rejection
of loads by the Discos, it was exclusively gathered from top industry sources.
The nation’s electricity
generation as of 6.00am on Monday stood at 3,548.7MW, while the combined
generation capacity of the power plants was put at 6,370.2MW.
Some of the plants affected by
the load rejection or low load demand were Shiroro, Jebba, Egbin, Okpai and
Afam VI.
Others are plants under the
National Integrated Power Project, including Alaoji, Odukpani and Ihovbor.
Shiroro and Jebba saw their
generation levels reduce to 200MW and 260MW, compared to capacities of 300MW
and 341MW, respectively. Odukpani generated 60.1MW instead of its capacity of
360MW; Egbin, 820MW (880MW); Alaoji, 51.5MW (117MW); Ihovbor, 78.4Mw (109MW);
Okpai, 282MW (366MW); and Afam VI, 378MW (555MW).
The General Secretary, National
Union of Electricity Employees, Mr. Joe Ajaero, had claimed in a statement on
Monday that the real saboteurs of the power sector were those who refused
allocations from the national grid for onward distribution to consumers.
A former top executive in one of
the power firms explained to our correspondent that a distribution company
could decide to reject load due to low revenue generation from a segment of its
customer base.
The Managing Director and Chief
Executive Officer, Eko Electricity Distribution Company, Mr. Oladele Amoda,
told our correspondent in a telephone interview that load rejection could be as
a result of capacity issues between the transmission and distribution networks.
He said, “In some cases, there
is no enough transmission equipment capacity to wheel power to the Discos.
Sometimes, the Discos also do have issues; that is when there is powerful wind,
which, sometimes, leads to tripping of the breaker. But it doesn’t take time
before that is restored.
“Everybody knows that the
weakest link in the power value chain is transmission. So, the blame cannot be
put solely on the Discos.”
According to Amoda, the nation’s
transmission network cannot wheel more than 6,000MW, while the distribution
networks nationwide can take more than 10,000MW.
“At Eko Disco, we are not
rejecting load. We are not even getting up to our allocated percentage because
of constraints on the transmission equipment,” he said, adding that the company
had spent more than N11bn on network rehabilitation and reinforcement, among
others.
Amoda said the government was
working on improving the transmission capacity, noting that the Transmission
Company of Nigeria had been starved of funds for a very long time.
“The government is looking into
how to quickly strengthen it financially and with all the provisions that it
will require to quickly ramp up its capacity,” he stated.
The Managing Director/Chief
Executive Officer, Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, Mr. Rumundaka Wonodi,
said, “When the Discos reject load allocation, the question is why are they
rejecting it? It could be that their system is weak, which is why we keep
talking about the need for investment.
“When this (load rejection)
happens, it has an effect all through the value chain because generation
companies cannot generate power and maybe they have ‘take or pay’ obligation on
their gas supply; so, they have to pay for gas that they did not utilise at
that time.”
The Chairman, Egbin Power Plc,
Mr. Kola Adesina, said the talk that the Discos were rejecting allocation was
an indication that there was a major problem far more significant than
frequency and pressure of gas.
“There is no justification for
somebody to reject power. You need power to make money. You need money to be
able to pay your loan, to be able to continue to service the system. So, nobody
will naturally want to do that,” he said.
The spokesperson for the Kano
Electricity Distribution Company, Mr. Muhammed Kandi, said, “In Kano Disco, we
do not drop load. In fact, we don’t get enough allocation; so why should we
even drop load in the first place?”
He explained that the company
only received about 260MW on Tuesday morning, compared to a maximum energy
demand of 600MW.
The Acting Chief Executive
Officer, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Mr. Anthony Akah, said,
“Clearly, the issue of load rejection has been addressed by the commission.
Under the new regime, that is the Transitional Electricity Market, the
distribution companies can no longer reject load that is within the allocation
level that they are supposed to get.
“If it is due to the constraint
of the distribution companies, they will be penalised for that. If it is the
transmission company, it will also have to be penalised. That essentially has
been taken care of, unless there are other reasons behind why it happened.”
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