In furtherance of their active participation in the Nigerian power sector as empowered by the Electricity Act 2023, the 36 states of the Nigerian Federation have indicated their readiness to sign bilateral power contracts with willing generation companies (Gencos) in order to get more electricity supplied to the people at the state level.
The states are particularly targeting taking up the over 9000 megawatts of power that is currently stranded, out of the country’s 13000mw generation capacity, due to inadequate wheeling capacity by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
Speaking on behalf of the Conference of State Electricity Regulators during a panel session at the just-concluded Nigeria Energy Exhibition and Conference in Lagos, the Chairman of the Enugu State Electricity Regulatory Commission (ESERC), Mr. Chijioke Okonkwo, added the states were ready to play active part across the value chains of the Nigerian power industry.
He indicated the willingness of the subnationals to pay the full cost of power delivered to states by the Gencos, saying subsidy will be out of the equation as investors would be guaranteed full return on their investment.
Okonkwo pointed out that only about 4000mw out of the 13000mw of power generation capacity in the country is being utilised, leaving about 9000mw as stranded power.
Like the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), he said the states such as Enugu were putting in place regulations to drive the growth of power development and supply as well as return on investment in the states.
He added that Enugu State was not considering subsidizing energy consumption in the state and that the government wants their customers to pay the full value of having electricity delivered to them.
Okonkwo stated, “And while a lot of generation companies would rather have that energy go through the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET), we are saying that let the redundancy or the excess that is not being delivered, signed up in the power purchase agreement with our support and deliver it to us, and we’ll pay the full value.
Peter Uzoho
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