13 September 2017, Sweetcrude, Kaduna – Kaduna Electric has described as “factually incorrect”, the recent media report attributed to the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, that the distribution company is rejecting power allocated to it for distribution to its customers.
A press statement issued by the Head, Corporate Communications of the company, Abdulazeez Abdullahi, in Kaduna, said that contrary to the report, the company has in many instances lately, actually taken more than its allocation, a development which he said cost the company millions of naira.
Some invoices submitted to the Company by the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading plc, (NBET) indicated that Kaduna Electric received 8.34%, 8.44%, 9.42%, 9.06%, and 8.70% in the months of January, February, March, April, and May 2017 respectively. This is way above its monthly allocation of 8% of the total power generation sent to the national grid.
“With exception of the last two months, the monthly invoice submitted by NBET has consistently shown that our company is taking much more than its allocation. Consequently, we have been paying dearly for our commitment to meet the energy need of our customers. It therefore does not appeal to logic and verifiable fact to list Kaduna electric among Distribution Companies rejecting load”, he contended.
He also blamed TCN for intermittent interruption of power supply in the company’s operational territory, stating that Kaduna Electric lost 638.2 megawatts in the month of August 2017 in 152 TCN requested outages.
“While it is not in our tradition to engage in blame game, it suffice to say that in the month of August alone, TCN demanded that we dropped load on emergency on 152 different occasions which resulted in the loss of 653.2 megawatts.”
The statement also attributed some of the power failures experienced by the Company to forced outages; an unplanned interruption of power supply due to faults, equipment failure or technical deficiency on power lines.
This problem was further compounded by poor construction and used of substandard materials by some states governments and local government councils in their rural electrification projects.
According to the Kaduna Electric spokesman, “some states and local governments do carry-out electrification projects without consulting the company and often uses substandard materials which make the lines vulnerable and susceptible especially when there is heavy wind storm”.
He called for better synergy and collaboration among stakeholders in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry, stressing that each participant must learn to collaborate with, and provide satisfactory services to its customers.
“The TCN must know that the Discos are its customers and must supply power to where the Discos need it most and not where it is convenient to it (TCN). Sometimes, there is misplacement of priority which we want TCN to address. It does not serve the interest of the public nor the industry for power to be sent where there is no demand for it”, he suggested.
