Electricity: Distribution challenged as supply rises
Electricity distribution is becoming huge obstacles just as the supply continues to improve from the grid. The progress noticed recently on the grid will soon be stalled due to poor capacities of distribution to the final users, Daily Trust learnt.
The private Distribution Companies (Discos) which took over about a year and a half year ago have not added much in their distribution network as they are struggling to settle billion of naira loan they collected from banks to acquire the companies.
Most residents Daily Trust leant that are denied electricity due to bad or absent of transformers in their areas which left them in darkness despite the improvement in the grid.
At the moment there are cases of electricity load rejections by some of the distribution companies because they can’t distribute what they received from the grid.
Officials of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and some Generation companies (Gencos) raised the alarm last week on cases of load rejection and a directive from the System Operator (SO) to shut down some plants due to inability of some Discos network to withstand the increased load.
The Managing Director of TCN, Paul Stefiszyn in a statement said the success of achieving the historic 4,810mw was “a result of the gas companies, the Gencos, the Discos and TCN working together.”
Managing Director of the SO, Mr. Dipak Sarma had said TCN National Control Centre (NCC) in Osogbo, Ogun state developed a ‘real-time online power optimization tools’ that has been implemented for the wheeling capability of TCN network.
He noted that the Discos on the new tool have been requested to deliver more power to its consumers by connecting more load from the grid.
“This can push the generation to further higher levels given the fact that fuel supply to the generators is stable and adequate,” Dipak said last week. There is an increase in the actual energy sent out to the networks of Distribution companies (Discos) from 3,925mw earlier to 4,037mw on last Friday.
Daily statistics obtained from the Presidential Task Force on Power (PTFP) showed that the actual energy generated was 4,126mw, a significant rise from the 4,080mw averagely generated midweek.
A quick check at residential areas across Kubwa, Bwari, Karu, Nyanya, Suleja and Mararaba all around the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) revealed that power supply at the weekend was fairly stable with some areas having over 14hours supply between Friday and Saturday.
But some residents in Dei Dei, Dakwa and Madalla under the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) are not seeing the benefit of the improved power supply due to the poor distribution system in the area. Also, some communities in Kano, Kaduna, Zmfara, Kebbi and Nasarawa said they noted some improvements in power supply but the distribution network is still denying them access to electricity.