Power Sector News And Other Related Stories For Monday 1st August 2022
Discos Cry Out Over FG Attempt to Renationalise Electricity Firms
The Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) on Sunday raised the alarm over the recent “restructuring” of the five electricity distribution companies (DisCos) as announced by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) on July 5, 2022, in collaboration with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
A statement signed by Sunday Oduntan, the association’s Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, accused the Federal Government of renationalizing the DisCos through the backdoor, noting the “restructur ing” to be inconsistent with all the guidelines and processes necessary to comply with the framework of privatisation agreements and the rule of law.
“Such renationalization or expropriation must be viewed through a historical context as necessary for a proper understanding of the performance challenges that the DisCos have been faced with, since privatisation.
https://independent.ng/discos-cry-out-over-fg-attempt-to-renationalise-electricity-firms/
11 Discos Fail to Pay N485bn for Electricity Supply in 16 Months
Within 16 months, the 11 Distribution Companies (DisCos) in Nigeria lost the capacity to pay N484.993 billion of the N1.084 trillion invoices they received for the electricity they received from the power Generation Companies (GenCos) between January 2021 and April 2022.
This development further confirms the concerns of experts about the ailing state of Nigeria’s power sector, which faces a liquidity crisis, resulting in poor supply to consumers.
Daily Trust on Sunday’s analysis of the latest data on payment receipts in the Nigerian Electricity Market (NEM) from the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) shows that almost all the DisCos are crisis-ridden. The crisis has become obvious among six DisCos in the last eight months, prompting the takeover of Abuja DisCos by the United Bank for Africa (UBA) over loan default in November 2021.
There was a similar case with Fidelity Bank concerning Benin, Kaduna, and Kano DisCos in July 2022, as well as Ibadan DisCo and Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), on behalf of the defunct Skye Bank. And the Port Harcourt DisCo had its key management officials and board replaced this month to avoid collapse.
https://dailytrust.com/11-discos-fail-to-pay-n485bn-for-electricity-supply-in-16-months
FG Failed to Provide N100bn Electricity Subsidy – Discos
Electricity distribution companies on Sunday reacted officially to the takeover/restructuring of five Discos by the Federal Government through the Bureau of Public, describing the move as a backdoor renationalisation of the power firms.
They claimed that investors in the 11 Discos were shortchanged by BPE when the facilities were privatised in November 2013, while the government had failed to pay the N100bn subsidy on electricity since the privatisation of the sector.
Speaking under the aegis of the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors, an umbrella body for the power firms, the Discos expressed concern about the restructuring of the five companies as announced by BPE on July 5, 2022, in collaboration with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.
The Federal Government through BPE had announced the planned takeover of Kano, Benin and Kaduna electricity distribution companies by Fidelity Bank Plc after the bank initiated action to take over the boards of the three Discos.
https://punchng.com/fg-failed-to-provide-n100bn-electricity-subsidy-discos/
Electricity: FG Owes Discos N100bn – ANED
The Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors, ANED, has claimed that the Federal Government owes the 11 electricity distribution companies, DisCos, N100 billion in unpaid subsidies on electricity.
The group also accused the government of renationalizing five electricity distribution companies after their management were sacked and replaced with government appointed officials.
The companies were privatized and handed over to the private sector in November, 2013 but failure by the owners to meet up with loan repayments for the acquisitions has led to the takeover of the assets by banks.
A statement by the Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, ANED, Barrister Sunday Oduntan, yesterday, said the restructuring of the companies’ management were inconsistent with all the guidelines and processes necessary to comply with the framework of privatization agreements and the rule of law.
NEMSA Vows to Enforce Technical Standards, Regulations in Power Sector
To arrest cases of blow outs in power installations and homes, the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) has vowed to enforce technical standards and regulations in the power sector.
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NEMSA, Engr Aliyu Tukur Tahir, stated this in an interview with Daily Sun on the sidelines of the Roundtable for Legislative, Judiciary and Other Stakeholders on the Enforcement of Technical Standards, Regulations and Mandate of NEMSA held in Lagos at the weekend.
Tahir explained that the mandate of NEMSA is very crucial to Nigeria’s socio-economic development because power remains at the hub of industrial development, saying electricity is a good servant but a bad master because it is associated with hazards if wrongly used.
He noted that hazards with the use of electricity must be well mitigated, hence the development of standards and regulations by NEMSA to ensure that those that work within the power sector value chain abide by the rules guiding the use and deployment of electricity in a safe manner.
https://www.sunnewsonline.com/nemsa-vows-to-enforce-technical-standards-regulations-in-power-sector/
ANED Laments the Restructuring of Five Discos
Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) under the aegis of the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) have lamented the recent “restructuring” of the five DisCos despite the federal government’s failure to release the promised N100 billion subsidy.
The Executive Director of Research and Advocacy, ANED, Sunday Oduntan, noted that the association views the restructuring as inconsistent with all the guidelines and processes necessary to comply with the framework of privatization agreements and the rule of law.
We believe that it is reasonable to conclude that the resultant outcome has been an appropriation or backdoor renationalization of the DisCos by the Federal Government of Nigeria, he said.”
He stated that the basis of privatization was fundamentally flawed from the beginning due to conditions not met by the federal government while expecting the DisCos to meet their performance obligations.
https://theelectricityhub.com/aned-laments-the-restructuring-of-five-discos/
Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company Announces One Month Outage in Zamfara
Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company has announced that Gusau, the capital of Zamfara state and environs will suffer a one month power outage from July 29th to August 28th, 2022.
In a statement issued by the company’s Head of Corporate Communication, Abdulazeez Abdullahi, the company said the outage from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm daily is at the instance of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) in order for it to carry out maintenance work at the 132KV Gusau Transmission Station.
The statement reads: “The Management of Kaduna Electric hereby informs its esteemed customers in Gusau and environs that there will be interruption of supply by the Transmission Company of Nigeria from Friday, 29th July, 2022 to 27th August, 2022, from 9:00am to 5:00pm daily.
“The outage is to enable the TCN engineering crew to replace existing glass insulators with new polymer insulators.
Kaduna Electric Warns of 1 Month Electricity Outage in Zamfara
Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company has notified electricity consumers in Gusau, the capital of Zamfara state and environs to expect a one-month power outage from July 29th to August 28th, 2022.
The company’s head of Corporate Communication, Abdulazeez Abdullahi, said in a statement , yesterday that the outage which runs from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm daily is at the instance of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) in order for it to carry out maintenance work at the 132KV Gusau Transmission Station.
The statement reads: “The management of Kaduna Electric hereby informs its esteemed customers in Gusau and environs that there will be interruption of supply by the Transmission Company of Nigeria from Friday, 29th July, 2022 to 27th August, 2022, from 9:00am to 5:00pm daily.
“The outage is to enable the TCN engineering crew to replace existing glass insulators with new polymer insulators.
https://leadership.ng/kaduna-electric-warns-of-1-month-electricity-outage-in-zamfara/
Siemens: Nigeria’s €63m Mega Transformers Set for Shipping Before September
Hope for an improvement in power supply was rekindled yesterday as the federal government has disclosed that the mega transformers it ordered under the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) have successfully undergone a factory acceptance test.
A statement from the Federal ministry of power stated that the first batch of the shipments, which are expected to be made from the Siemens’ transformers factory in Trento, Italy, would start arriving in Nigeria from September this year.
The Managing Director of the Federal Government of Nigeria Power Company (FGN-Power), Mr Kenny Anuwe, who led a delegation that included engineers from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), witnessed the factory acceptance test conducted on Thursday in Europe.
In the statement signed by the Special Adviser to the Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, on Media, Mr Isa Sanusi noted that the acceptance test has paved the way for Siemens Energy to start delivering the transformers to Nigeria.
€63m Mega Transformers to Arrive Nigeria September – FG
The Federal Government on Saturday announced that the mega transformers it ordered under the Presidential Power Initiative had successfully undergone a factory acceptance test at Siemens’ transformers factory in Trento, Italy.
It also announced that the “first batch of the transformers is expected to arrive Nigeria in September 2022.”
The spokesperson to the Minister of Power, Isa Sanusi, in a statement issued in Abuja, said the Managing Director, Federal Government of Nigeria Power Company, Kenny Anuwe, led Nigeria’s delegation to the factory in Italy.
He said the delegation, which had engineers from Transmission Company of Nigeria, witnessed the factory acceptance test conducted on July 28, 2022, in Italy.
“The factory acceptance test paves the way for Siemens Energy to start delivering the transformers to Nigeria,” he said.
He stressed that this was coming after the Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, led a delegation to Germany in April where he paid visits to Siemens Energy factories in Berlin and Frankfurt.
https://punchng.com/e63m-mega-transformers-to-arrive-nigeria-september-fg/
Nedbank Sees South Africa Clean Energy Loans Jump to $3 Billion
Nedbank Group Ltd. wants to almost double its lending to green energy projects in South Africa over the next two years as it seeks to cement its position as a market leader in funding renewable power projects.
The bank’s lending toward the government’s Renewable Independent Power Producer Program — aimed at boosting privately generated electricity in the nation — may jump to about 50 billion rand ($3 billion) in the “short-to-medium term” from 29 billion rand, said Chief Executive Officer Mike Brown.
“We would certainly have appetite for it to go higher if client demand is more than that,” Brown, 56, said in an interview at Nedbank’s office Friday. “We need masses of new energy.”
Demand for funding renewable power projects is likely to surge after President Cyril Ramaphosa unshackled the private sector in a bid to end an energy crisis that’s been holding back Africa’s most-industrialized economy. The government scrapped a 100 megawatt limit on private power generation, allowing companies to produce electricity without a license to meet their own needs and sell to the grid.
UK to Import 8% Of Its Electricity Needs from Morocco
The United Kingdom (UK) is set to import 8% of its electricity energy needs from Morocco, Morocco’s Trade and Industry Minister, Ryad Mezzour said.
During a recent visit to London, Ryad Mezzour said that the under-construction submarine cable between the two countries is projected to transport enough electricity to power nearly seven million UK homes with cost-competitive green energy produced in Morocco’s solar and wind plants.
The 3,800-kilometer submarine cable project is currently managed by British green energy company XLinks in collaboration with the Saudi energy conglomerate ACWA Power. The cable will be online by 2030, Mezzour said in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat.
The sea cable is projected to have the capacity to transfer 10.5 gigawatts (GW) of green electricity produced in Morocco’s Guelmim-Oud Nour region.
