Power: N1.3bn Daily Earning Deferred over System Constraints

Chineme Okafor in Abuja

Nigeria’s electricity industry has continued to operate below its expected capacity despite reforms by the federal government, operational records from the National Control Centre (NCC) have disclosed.

According to a seven-day NCC operational report on the sector’s performance which THISDAY obtained in Abuja, the industry deferred an average of N1.3 billion that it could have earned every day due to various system constraints.

Chief amongst these constraints was the inability of the generation companies (Gencos) to get adequate gas to fire their plants to their optimum production levels, thus denying them extra revenues they could have made from this.

There were also transmission and distribution constraints which had to do with the inability of the transmission system to evacuate all the generated electricity from the Gencos and failures of the feeders of some distribution companies (Discos). No water constraint was reported by the NCC in the seven-day reports, which was between June 15 and 23.

“On June 15 2017, average power sent out was 3682MWh/hour (up by 157MWh/h); the reported gas constraint was 1566MW; the reported line constraint was 238.8MW; the reported high frequency constraint was 728MW; the water management constraint was 0MW; and the power sector lost an estimated N1,216,000,000 on June 15 2017 due to constraints,” said the report.

It further explained that: “On June 17 2017, average power sent out was 2786MWh/hour (down by 687/h); the reported gas constraint was 1724MW; the reported line constraint was 173.6MW; the reported high frequency constraint was 1078.5MW; the water management constraint was 0MW; the power sector lost an estimated N1,429,000,000 on June 17 2017 due to constraints.

“On June 18 2017, average power sent out was 3443MWh/hour (up by 657MWh/h); the reported gas constraint was 1770MW; the reported line constraint was 147.5MW; the reported high frequency constraint was 845.5MW; the water management constraint was 0MW; the power sector lost an estimated N1,326,000,000 on June 18 2017 due to constraints.”
The report stated that between June 19 and 23, the average power sent out was 3,361MWh/hour (down by 82MWh/h); 3,307MWh/hour (down by 54MWh/h); 3,307MWh/hour (up by 1MWh/h); and 3,715MWh/hour (up by 521MWh/h) respectively.
Reported gas constraints for these periods were 1642MW; 1733MW; 1733MW; and 1777MW respectively, while line and frequency constraints were 147.5MW and 1013MW; 147.5MW and 510.5MW; 147.5MW and 1340MW; as well as 114.2MW and 455MW.
As regards deferred revenues for the period, it was N1.345 billion on June 19; N1.148 billion on June 20; N1.533 billion on June 21; and N1.126 billion on June 23.

The report equally indicated that an extremely high frequency that resulted to generation drops at Shiroro; Jebba; Odukpani; Olorunsogo I and Omotosho II power plants was recorded within the period, while a phase of Omoku power plant was restored following completion of its maintenance.
Similarly, it noted that the heavy rainfalls across the country were beginning to affect the Discos as most of them were losing their feeders and forcing the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to manage the frequency by asking the Gencos to reduce their generation levels.

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