An excerpt of the report said the power sector “lost an estimated N1,658,000,000 on June 23, 2018 due to insufficient gas supply, distribution infrastructure and transmission infrastructure”.
Reports obtained from the advisory power team of the Vice President show that the country’s electricity supply industry lost N1.66 billion on June 24 alone, with total losses for the year amounting to N227.8billion.
ThisDay quoted an excerpt of the report, saying the power sector “lost an estimated N1,658,000,000 on June 23, 2018 due to insufficient gas supply, distribution infrastructure and transmission infrastructure”.
In addition, the country was able to generate an average of 3,278 megawatts per hour on the same day.
“On June 23, 2018, average power sent out was 3,278MWh/hour (down by 649.96MWh/h from the previous day). 1,529.5MW was not generated due to unavailability of gas, 47.7MW was not generated due to unavailability of transmission infrastructure, while 1,686MW was not generated due to high frequency resulting from unavailability of distribution infrastructure. 190MW was recorded as losses due to water management,” the rport said, adding that these losses add up to a total shortfall of 3,453.20 mw in one day.
During the Eid holidays, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) issued a statement saying damage to two pipelines owned by the Nigerian Gas Company and another belonging to Shell had led to the shortage or low operation of seven power plants. It said 1,087 mw of power was lost due to the faults.
Also, data from the advisory power team for June 14 showed that the country generated an average of 3,827 mw, amounting to the production of 2,740 mw after the pipeline ruptures.
Although TCN reported the next day that the power plants were back to operation, statistics from the advisory power team showed that over 1,500 mw of the losses was down to the absence of gas. It also blamed poor distribution infrastructure for most of the power outage.
TCN had approached the Federal Government to secure a N72 billion loan for the upgrade of distribution networks. It said the purpose of the loan was to ensure that its own grid expansion projects were not done in vain. The Association of Nigerian Electricity distributors has, however, countered the government loan, saying it was not consulted before the credit facility was requested for. The association also wondered if TCN had become a regulator.