Oscarline Onwuemenyi
05 April 2017, Sweetcrude, Abuja – Nigeria’s electricity distribution companies, popularly known as Discos, under the umbrella body, the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) has claimed that the revenue shortfall in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) has reached N809.8 billion,
The amount according to ANED’s Director, Research and Advocacy, Mr. Sunday Oduntan, covers from November 1, 2013 when the new owners of power companies took over, to date includes, N90.41 billion balance brought forward from the N213 billion intervention by the Central Bank of Nigeria to pay-off gas supply legacy debts.
Oduntan urged the federal government to extend its interventions to all segments of the electricity supply chain rather than focusing solely on the generation segment.
He described the N701 billion intervention to pay generation companies this year, as “too little, too partial.”
He therefore urged the government to take a holistic approach towards resolving the liquidity problem of the power industry.
He noted that it was impossible to expect distribution companies which buy power at N68/kw to sell to N31/kw and still make enough money to keep the sector liquid.
While also urging the federal government to increase its investment into the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), he pointed out that most of the supply challenges in the supply chain come from poor and obsolete transmission infrastructure.
