We’ll deliver over 5000MW of power – NERC chair

In this interview with OPEOLUWANI AKINTAYO, the Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Garba Sanusi, explains why the commission’s 5,000 megawatts target is realistic and the feasibility of delivering improved power supply to electricity consumers

The NERC recently held a meeting with stakeholders in the power sector on how to improve power supply. What was the outcome of the meeting?

Our meeting with major stakeholders in generation, distribution, and transmission was to discuss the state of the industry and also to ensure that the power supply is improved.

In the recent past, electricity generation has nose-dived and this has translated to customers’ poor experience. In our recent engagement, we were able to explain the reasons for the problem ranging from gas supply to vandalism, and infrastructure. Eighty per cent of our generation comes from gas, and the sustainability of gas to those plants has been constrained largely due to breakdown, vandalism, maintenance work, or disruption of supply to the power plants.

When about 300/400MW is lost on the grid, it poses a challenge to the system, resulting in system collapse. However, we are doing a lot to improve the situation.

Experts believe there are issues with power transmission. What is the extent of the challenge with transmission?

Vandals attack transmission houses, leading to loss of massive power generation or load which results in obstruction of what goes into the national grid. This also leads to either partial or total system collapse, which is a huge challenge to the sector.

Another thing, which has been going on for so many years now, is system collapse. We have tried to bring it down but suddenly, we have had it up to four times this year. Though we are not close to where we were before, we are not happy that the trend is being reversed. The recent challenges are very clear. In the past, it used to be weak infrastructure but today, we have external factors contributing to these events. Honestly, it is not common around the world to see people break down power infrastructure or crude oil pipelines. Most of the gas used is associated with gas and when one crude oil line is affected, the supply of gas is also affected.

What steps is the commission taking to end vandalism of transmission lines and make gas available for power generation?

It’s not the duty of the commission to provide security for oil pipelines. However, while we hope that the Federal Government is able to find a lasting solution to the pipeline vandalisation challenges, what we are doing is to make sure generation companies sign gas contracts with gas companies. Although there have been contracts in the past, they were not binding and the parties could decide not to honour them. But with the new agreement, we would make sure no party defaults once the contracts are signed. Whoever defaults will be held responsible and sanctioned.

Any update on the national mass metering programme?

The phase zero of the national metering programme has been completed; we are about to start phase 1 under which about four million meters will be distributed to the distribution companies. This phase will be supported by the Federal Government through the Central Bank of Nigeria. The CBN has been going round the DisCos to find out their needs for this phase of the metering.

How effective are the commission’s complaint channels?

It is important to know that our commissioners have been going around the country as part of efforts to ensure that consumers’ complaints are addressed. We are going around the country, bringing the consumers and DisCos to the table to ensure speedy resolution of consumer disputes. These are ad hoc arrangements, but there are complaints desks in DisCos’ offices around the country. What we are doing is to ensure that consumer protection is part of our day-to-day activities.

Although there have been complaints that when you report to the commission nothing happens, this I can say is not true. Recently, we resolved 100 complaints. The problem is when we resolve these complaints, we don’t make noise about them, but we do receive letters of commendation from consumers who have been treated badly by the utilities but got the issues resolved by us.