The Federal Government has ordered Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, to revoke the licenses of electricity distribution companies, DISCOs, and that are not performing, according to Vanguard News.
This is as power generation dropped from 4,404 Megawatts (MW) in the first quarter of 2023 to 3,475MW now, due to several issues including poor investment and low gas supply.
Power generation also went from 4,043MW in February 2024, to 3,475MW in March. This has caused many DISCOs to start loading.
The National System Operator, a unit in the Transmission Company of Nigeria, indicated that because supply has remained low, households and businesses nationwide have been negatively impacted, according to data obtained by Vanguard from the NSO.
The government has accused the DISCOs of not putting in enough effort in improving supply of power to households and businesses, despite there being power on the national grid.
Adebayo Adelabu, the Minister of Power, stated during a meeting with the agency heads in Abuja, that the distribution aspect remains a weak link in the electricity supply value chain.
Adelabu called on NERC to find ways to get the DISCOs to improve supply. He suggested imposing stiff sanctions and perhaps even outright cancelling the licenses of defaulting DISCOs.
He understood that areas covered by DISCOs were too vast, adding that the government is pursuing a better structure that would create smaller DISCOs that will better handle the load, with companies restricted to one state each, and not more.
“Distribution is our weakest point and it is the closest to the consumers. If we don’t get distribution right, to Nigerians, we’re not doing anything. So, efforts need to be put on this. In fact, we must intensify our efforts in ensuring that we address all issues relating to distribution.
“It is true that the distribution companies are in the hands of the private sector. We don’t have direct control. But we need to compel them for performance. They must perform. If they do not perform, all our effort in generation, in transmission is zero. I’ve also had a meeting with the Chairman of NERC on how we’re going to address these performance issues of the electricity distribution companies across the nation,” Adelabu said.
