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By Emmanuel Adeleke
Minister of Power, Bayo Adelabu, has listed unpaid debts and low gas supply as some of the factors responsible for the poor electricity supply in the country.
Adelabu stated this when he visited the 750MW Olorunsogo Power Generating Plant in Ogun State and 500MW Omotoso Generating Plant in Ondo State.
The minister said the visit was part of his nationwide tour of power installations of the Federal Government, to “inspect and monitor the physical state and the operational state of these power plants.”
The two government power plants being operated and managed by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company was inspected by Adelabu, who said he was impressed with the size and the technology of the Olorunsogo and Omotoso power plants.
“We have been to Olorunsogo and we are now in Omotoso Power Plant. These are big power plants. I am impressed with the size and the technology of the power plants. Their operational history is also impressive.
“I am amazed at the level of underutilisation of these power installations. Each of them operates below 25 per cent capacity, when we are still complaining that power generation is low in this country. The under-capacity utilisation is due to a variety of reasons. The major part of it is the shortage in gas supply to these installations. Which is why I needed to see these plants myself. To look at what can we do to improve the operational capacity of these plants.
“What can we do to repair those turbines that are down. What can we do to support these power plants to operate at impressive capacity. So that power supply will improve nationwide,” he said.
Adelabu explained that huge debts were being owed the generation companies as a result of electricity subsidy. He suggested migration to what he called cost-reflective tariff.
“And we also want to appeal to the Federal Government that once there is a subsidy promise, it has to be fully funded. If our government is not ready to fund subsidies, it is actually better for us to migrate to a fully cost-reflective tariff, because liquidity is a major issue in the sector, which has led to a huge debt being owed power generating companies. And once they are owed, they are also unable to pay the gas suppliers.
“When the gas suppliers are not paid, they will be unwilling to supply regular gas to them. So, why are these debts piling up? Part of the debts are owed by the DisCos. The Federal Government is also owning a huge portion of these debts, which relates to the unfunded portion of the subsidy,” thwhich minister stated.
He added that efforts were in top gear to make power available to Nigerians, especially through reliable energy sources.