Federal ministry of power has said that gas transmission, distribution and other constraints made Nigeria’s power sector cost the country about N468.4billion between January and August 21 this year.
The constraints in the sector also stalled the targeted production of a total of 33,122 megawatts of power during the period in question.
Ministry sources said Nigeria had been losing millions of money daily, weekly and months due to the constraints.
A performance document from the ministry showed in January, for instance, the sector lost N56.41billion revenue, while in February and March this year, its revenues dipped by N54.96billion and N65.56 billion respectively.
“For the months of April, May, June and July, the power sector’s constrained revenues were N64.635 billion, N61.601 billion, N61.771 billion and N63.207billion respectively.
Between August 1 and August 21, 2020, the sector lost N40.227billion due to the earlier highlighted constraints.
The highest monthly loss this year was recorded in March, as the industry’s constrained revenue in that month stood at N65.56billion, the performance document showed.
A summation of the monthly losses revealed that the power sector’s revenue dropped by N468.37billion during the period.
Further analysis of the documents showed that the constraints limited the generation of huge quantum of power on a monthly basis.
Findings showed that in January, February and March this year, the constraints halted the generation of 3,791 megawatts-hour/hour, 3,949MWh/h and 4,406MWh/h of energy respectively. Also in April, May, June and July, the sector lost 4,489MWh/h; 4,140MWh/h; 4,290MWh/h; and 4,248MWh/h of energy respectively.
From August 1 to August 21, a total of 3,809MWh/h of energy was stalled as a result of gas, transmission and distribution constraints in the sector.
The cumulative quantum of energy that could not be produced in the eight months was therefore 33,122MWh/h, which, according to operators, was the same as 33,122MW of electricity.
It was gathered that the average quantum of energy sent out to power users nationwide in the months of January, February and March this year were 3,821MWh/h; 4,114MWH/H; and 3,912MWh/h.
Similarly, 4,099MWh/h; 4,147MWh/h; 3,708MWh/h; and 3,838MWh/h were sent out in the months of April, May, June and July respectively.
The performance document further showed that for the 21 days in August as captured in the latest performance report of the sector, the average quantum of power delivered to electricity consumers across the country stood at 4,060MWh/h.
On peak power generated on the national grid for each of the months, data from the documents showed that the highest peak of 5,420MW was recorded in August. In January, February and March, the highest peaks for each of the months were 4,931MW; 5,268MW; and 4,804MW respectively.
For the months of April, May, June and July, the highest peaks were 5,316MW; 5,296MW; 5,173MW; and 5,272MW respectively.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria had announced on August 20 that the power industry achieved another improved all-time national peak of 5,420.30MW.
It was gathered that the 5,420.3MW was effectively transmitted through the national grid at a frequency of 50.10Hz at 9:15pm on August 18.
This is the highest ever recorded in the nation’s power sector to-date, surpassing the previous peak of 5,377.80MW recorded on the 1st of August, 2020, by 42.50MW,” the General Manager, Public Affairs, TCN, Ndidi Mbah, had said.
Mbah explained that the gradual but steady improvement in electricity delivery in the nation’s power sector was attributable to the keen interest of government.
She said this was as a result of the government’s ability to pilot the programmes and projects geared towards growing the power sector as well as the collective effort of all power sector players in the value chain.
By Chibisi Ohakah, Abuja
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