The federal executive council (FEC) has approved the inclusion of the presidential villa in the eligible customer policy to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the villa.
In a statement on Friday, Hakeem Bello, special adviser on
communications to Babatunde Fashola, minister of power, said the
approval is aimed at achieving improvement in the electricity supply and
distribution in the country.
According to him, the approval was made at the FEC meeting on in
response to a memorandum submitted by the minister seeking approval to
include the presidential villa in the distribution expansion programme
earlier approved by the council.
The eligible customer regulation, which was issued by the Nigerian
Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in mid-2017, permits
electricity customers to buy power directly from the electricity
generation companies (GenCos), other than distribution companies
(DisCos), in line with the provisions of section 27 of the Electric
Power Sector Reform Act 2005.
The programme seeks to enable unutilised 2000 megawatts (MW) from the GenCos to be distributed to targeted metered customers.
“The Ministry had earlier obtained approval from the Bureau of Public
Procurement (BPP) following its letter to the Bureau intimating it of
the Council’s approval of the Distribution Expansion Programme with the
intention of the Ministry to procure civil works that would facilitate
uninterrupted power supply to the Aso Rock Villa and curb the present
erratic supply of power in spite of the availability of power by the
Generation Companies (GenCos),” Bello said.
“The project to be executed by Messrs Dextron Engineering Limited,
has a completion period of six months under the Distribution Expansion
Programme. An arrangement has also been put in place such that a GenCo,
North-South Power Company Limited, will procure the dedicated supply to
the Villa from the National Grid while the Abuja Electricity
Distribution Company (AEDC) has indicated interest to ensure success of
the project.”
ENDORSEMENT FOR A STERILE REGULATION TWO YEARS AFTER INTRODUCTION
In February, the federal government had asked GenCos to find eligible
customers for its stranded power as the payment for shortfalls might
end soon.
On March 1, 2017, the federal government approved the sum of N701
billion as power assurance guarantee fund for the Nigerian Bulk
Electricity Trader (NBET) to pay for the electricity produced by the
GenCos to the national grid and as well cover the shortfalls. The
two-year intervention ended in December, 2018.
With the current reality that no licensed customer has benefitted
from the eligible customer policy two years after it was unveiled, the
patronage from the presidency gives a strong endorsement to the
directive, encouraging more buyers, especially manufacturers who require
uninterrupted power supply for industrial use.
This will also encourage GenCos to produce more energy, as they
currently produce less than their installed capacity of 13,000MW, in as
much more eligible customers are ready to buy them. It will also reduce
the constant issue of load rejection by DisCos, as the rejected energy
will be diverted to eligible customers.
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