Punch Newspapers
Sections
Published 31 December 2020
In Nigeria, more than half of registered electricity consumers get monthly bills that are estimated by the distribution companies and prepaid meters are still hard to come by, more than seven years after the privatisation of the power sector, ‘FEMI ASU reports
Millions of electricity consumers across the country lack functional meters, with many groaning under the weight of estimated bills from the distribution companies as they are deprived of the right to be in full control of how much they spend on electricity monthly.
In 2016, when Mr John Ovat was about moving into a new apartment at Rumuagholu Pipeline in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, his landlord, Dr Enang Idongesit, was sick and tired of the estimated bills he was receiving from Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company.
Chineme Okafor writes that in addition to its perennial low-level efficiency, Nigeriaâs power sector had the COVID-19 pandemic to deal with in 2020
On December 27, three days before the curtains finally draw on 2020, data obtained from the office of the vice president, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, revealed that the average volume of power generated and distributed to Nigerians from the national grid within the year was 4,045 megawatts (MW) daily, about 264MW more than the 3,781MW that was reported the same time in 2019.
Similarly, an average of 3,644MW could not get to the grid daily within the year while N640 billion was unearned as a result of the sectorâs inefficiencies.
The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) has warned residents in the South-East against some people, claiming to be representatives of the company and demanding payment to provide pre-paid meters.
Nigeria Loses N22 2bn to Gas, Others Constraints in Power Sector allafrica.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from allafrica.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
NIPP intervention and challenges of electicity privatisation
On
By Kunle Kola Olubiyo
Nigeria returned to democratic governance in 1999, giving birth to a political milestone known as the 4th Republic.
The Power Sector had gone over 20 years without a single major capital infusion by the government. This arguably set the tone for what was going to be a massive investment to revive the sector. In order to fast-track different government-funded projects into mainstream contention, the National Integrated Power Projects, NIPP, was conceived in 2004 under the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration as a government-funded quick intervention in the ailing power sector inherited by the new civilian administration.