31 March 2016, Lagos – The total generated electricity on Wednesday fell to 2,030.5 megawatts from the over 5,000MW peak recorded earlier this year.
Data obtained from the power System Operator in Abuja on Wednesday showed that as of 8.37am, electricity generation had fallen by over 800MW when compared to the 2,841.9MW that was recorded at 12.42pm last week Thursday.
The fall in power generation, according to officials of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing as well as private investors in the sector, is as a result of vandalism of gas pipelines and the destruction of vital infrastructure in the industry by miscreants.
“Aside pipelines vandalism, some miscreants have been involved in the destruction of vital power infrastructure, and this has been affecting not just generation, but transmission and distribution as well,” a senior official at the ministry said.
The official, who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, also stressed that the ongoing difficulty in the downstream oil industry was also impacting negatively on the power sector.
Corroborating this, the Executive Director, Association of National Electricity Distributors, Mr. Sunday Oduntan, said the power situation was a big concern to operators in the sector as they were losing huge amount of money due to the development.
On the cause for the drop in power generation, he said, “It is mainly because of gas pipelines’ vandalism although there are a few other issues that also attribute to it. But I must say that the current poor supply of electricity across the country is not the fault of the distribution companies.”
On electricity load allocation to power distribution companies, the System Operator stated that Ikeja Electric got 304.58MW; Abuja, 233.51MW; Eko, 233.36MW; Benin, 182.75MW; Ibadan, 263.97MW; Jos, 111.68MW; Kano, 162.44MW; Kaduna, 162.44MW; Port Harcourt, 131.98MW; and Yola, 71.07MW.
Oduntan explained that the more power allocated to the Discos, the more hours of supply to households across the country.
“The drop in generation is affecting everyone, particularly at a time when there is petrol scarcity. For if we get enough allocation, this will mean more hours of power supply to households as well as to industries and other organisations across the country,” he said.
- Punch
