By Barbara Nwaiwu
Power sector experts have urged the new Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, to intensify efforts toward increasing megawatt generation on the national grid and ensure consumers are included in ongoing reforms in the electricity sector.
The experts made the call in Abuja on Sunday while speaking on their expectations from the new minister recently appointed by President Bola Tinubu.
Speaking on the development, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Sage Consulting, Bode Fadipe, said the minister should focus not only on grid stability but also on increasing the amount of megawatts available on the grid.
Fadipe said the sector had remained stagnant for years and had never generated up to 6,000 megawatts despite having an installed capacity of about 13,000MW.
According to him, installed capacity differs from the actual power available on the national grid, stressing that the current generation level of between 3,500MW and 4,500MW was inadequate for Nigeria’s population of more than 200 million people.
“Even if the entire 200 million is not using electricity at the same time, for the population using, certainly, 3,500, 4,500 megawatts is not enough.
“If electricity is regular, the FCT alone can consume that quantum of energy,” he said.
Fadipe also urged the minister to address the persistent issue of electricity metering, describing it as a recurring challenge affecting billing integrity, energy accountability, revenue stabilisation and liquidity within the sector.
According to him, efforts should be made to move metering beyond its current level in order to improve efficiency and public confidence in electricity billing.
“Liquidity continues to remain a major factor in the sector and without being addressed, the problem in the sector will continue to be there,” he said.
He further called for the resolution of disputes between gas suppliers and generating companies (GenCos), noting that the issue had contributed to outstanding debts and affected the volume of electricity generated by power plants.
Fadipe explained that Nigeria’s electricity system depended largely on gas-fired plants rather than hydro power, making regular gas supply critical to power generation across the country.
“If gas suppliers are not paid, they will not supply the GenCos and the power system in this country is screwed in favour of gas-fired plants, not hydro”.
“Hydro contribution to the electricity supply industry is far smaller than gas-fired plants.” he said.
Also speaking, the Executive Director of the Electricity Consumers Protection Advocacy Centre, Princewill Okorie, urged the minister to organise a consumers’ forum to engage electricity users directly.
Okorie said consumers had for too long been excluded from major conversations surrounding generation, transmission and distribution despite being responsible for paying electricity bills.
“Enough of concentrating on transmission, generation, and distribution without the consumers who pay the bills and are being extorted and exploited without any consequence,” he said.
He also called for the establishment of a unit within the Ministry of Power to enforce Section 119 of the Electricity Act relating to consumer protection and licensee performance standards.
According to Okorie, electricity distribution companies (DisCos) continued to act without adequate enforcement, monitoring or discipline, adding that stronger mechanisms were needed to ensure compliance with provisions of the Electricity Act.
He said penalties contained in sections 209-226 of the Act should be enforced to improve accountability and consumer protection within the sector.
