14 JULY 2016-Nigerians took to the social media platform Twitter yesterday to unleash their frustrations on the state of power supply in Nigeria calling for radical reforms in electricity generation, transmission, and distribution and a total overhaul of the agencies in charge of the sector.
Top on the list of reforms expected include a bottom-up approach where states generate and distribute their own power, fusion of electricity generation and distribution companies, alternative sources of feedstock aside from gas, consumers allowed to buy power from any generator they like rather than the monopolistic system that takes away the freedom to choose.
These were key recommendations at the Twitter conversation on power under the hashtag #PowerWednesday set up by Frank Edozie, Senior Power Consultant (Gas), Nigerian Infrastructure Advisory Facility.
Dolapo Oni, Head of Ecobank Energy research team proposed decentralization of power generation, transmission and distribution currently within the exclusive list of the Federal government so that states and other entities can actively engage in the sector.
“A regional transmission system might work for Nigeria, let distribution companies invest in embedded generation,” he said.
He also advocated for investors in electricity generation to source for their own gas and collect their bill.
“For instance, the 1320MW Egbin should feed off gas from offshore Lagos, supply to Ikeja & Eko Disco directly who will collect and pay Egbin,”
John Brown advises, “Economies of scale exists in power generation and regional monopolies are needed but they must be heavily regulated. Consumers should buy power from most efficient generator as current system creates multiple monopolies that deny that.”
Power generation in Africa’s largest economy fell below 3000 mega watts (MW) in the first week of July but rose to 3,032.7 MW, a far cry from the 17,720MW national peak demand forecast for the country.
With installed capacity of 11,165mw, Nigeria’s network operational capability hovers around 5,500mw and experts attribute this to poor transmission infrastructure, badly run distribution companies and poor regulatory oversight by Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
