The most recent data on the daily load summary of power distribution companies show that, between February 1 and February 14, 2024, the businesses failed to deliver about 1,769.91 megawatts of electricity, despite the widespread blackout and the deteriorating status of Nigeria’s electrical supply.
The PUNCH reported that, the Transmission Company of Nigeria provided data on Monday indicating, despite certain power companies receiving surplus electrical load allocation throughout the time, the majority of them did not utilize the entire amount of energy that TCN had allotted to them. The data was collected in Abuja.
Nigeria’s power crisis has gotten worse since January of this year, prompting the minister of electricity, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, to announce on Saturday that TCN and a few power companies had been called in to provide reasons for the worsening electricity supply in their regions.
Adelabu also emphasized that In spite of the commodity’s limited availability, certain power distribution firms were rejecting electricity, according to findings from the power ministry’s inspections.
In a statement released in Abuja, Adelabu said, “Findings revealed that some distribution companies were deliberately not taking up power supply from TCN while some power lines were also damaged by vandals in Abuja, Benin, Port Harcourt, and Ibadan regions.”
Abuja, Benin, Eko, Enugu, Ibadan, Ikeja, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Port Harcourt, and Yola Discos are among Nigeria’s eleven electricity distribution corporations.
Seven power distributors did not use 128.62 MW of energy on February 1, 2024; four others Benin, Ibadan, Port Harcourt, and Yola took 61.91 MW of cumulative extra load allotment.
Accepting excess load indicates that the Disco used more energy on that specific day than the load that the Nigerian Transmission Company had assigned it.
However, most discos’ actual consumption statistics are often lower than their allotted load, which results in energy that the power distributors either fail to use or reject.
The Discos got extra load allocations of 22.35MW and 65.45MW on February 2 and 3 respectively, but failed to use a total of 108.25MW and 71.54MW.
On February 4, it was noted that Kano Disco was only using 4.45 MW of its extra load, while 10 other Discos were receiving 327.47 MW. The low power generation on February 4, 2024, was the reason for the low rejection of electricity on this particular day.
No Disco refused to accept electricity on February 5, however 211.04 MW of extra load was distributed among the 11 power distributors as a result of the day’s poor power output.
On February 6, the next day, three of the power companies were unable to distribute 197.32 MW, while eight others had excess load.
TCN records for the first week of February indicated that the power corporations rejected a total of 726.28MW of electricity. Of those, four failed to use 216.1MW, while the remaining seven took an extra load of 162.02MW.
Eight power companies failed to distribute 126.33 MW on February 8 due to three others taking on an extra load of 31.77 MW; nine power distributors failed to utilize 137.9 MW on February 9 due to the remaining two receiving an excess load of 39.27 MW.
Nine Discos rejected 185.47 MW on February 10 while two others accepted an extra load of 22.23 MW. On February 11, eight businesses failed to distribute 142.86 MW, while three others received an excess load of 60.66 MW.
Eight Discos failed to distribute 132.27MW on February 12; three others were allocated 45.83MW of surplus load. On February 13, six Discos failed to use 133.8MW; five others were allocated 48.09MW of excess load.
On February 14, six power distributors accepted an extra load allocation of 83.18 MW, while five refused 179.6 MW of electricity.
This demonstrates that the power distributors failed to deliver about 1,043.63MW of electricity during the second week of February, which ran from the 8th to the 14th. However, 330.97 MW of extra load allocation was given to them.
Concerned about the inadequate supply of energy, the power minister instructed the CEOs of Abuja and Ibadan in a letter written by Director, Distribution Services at the Federal Ministry of Power, B.U. Mustapha ordering the CEOs of Abuja and Ibadan Discos, as well as TCN to attend a meeting called by Adelabu this week.
In order to provide a long-term solution, they will address concerns about the deteriorating electrical supply in their areas, according to a statement released on Saturday by the minister’s special adviser for strategic communications and media relations, Bolaji Tunji.
As information about the situation in their territories continues to surface, Adelabu was cited as indicating that the management of other non-performing Discos will also be questioned about non-performance.
The electricity minister said, “These two Discos have been summoned owing to the worsening power supply situation in their regions despite improved supply from TCN.”
The statement said that despite the gas constraint, the ministry had been pressuring the power providers to increase output, and that in recent times, generation had increased to almost 4,000MW.
“So, we expect power supply to have improved across the country, unlike what we are experiencing in some regions, presently,” the minister stated.
