I carefully chose the caption of this piece because it captures the situation as it is. The epileptic power supply in Nigeria is believed to be the bane of the economic and industrial development of the country. With her abundance of resources, it becomes worrisome that for over one hundred years of existence and sixty-one years of independence, the country is still not getting it right in terms of energy efficiency and sufficiency. If the problem is only that the power is insufficient, it would have been a much more bearable situation but the major problem is that the power supply is erratic. Being erratic means that the residents and companies requiring electricity cannot predict when this electricity from the national grid will be available for their consumption. In most situations, the erratic power supply can be equated to no power supply as the work the power is needed for, might have been done before the supply is made available or the power is interrupted before what it is to be used for, is gotten ready.
In other to understand and resolve the pathetic power supply situation in the country, it is pertinent we take a look at where we are coming from, where we are, and where we should be, thereafter analyze the situations and propose how to move from where we are to where we should be.
A HISTORICAL VISION IN A CHECKERED JOURNEY
In other to coordinate and integrate the operational power plants built at the time, the government established the Electricity Company of Nigeria, ECN, through ordinance No.15 of 1950. The power and functions of the ECN were set out in sections 21, 29, 30, and 50 of the 1950 ordinance. A look at the provision of these sections reveals that ECN was charged with the responsibilities of electric power generation, transmission, distribution, and sales throughout Nigeria. In addition, ECN was granted the power to acquire, hold, and dispose-off assets for purpose of effective operation and actualization of the objectives of regular power supply. After the Niger Dam Hydroelectric project at Kanji in 1962 was completed, the Niger Dam Authority (NDA) was established leading to the existence of a parallel electricity body. The NDA was mandated to oversee the development of hydroelectric facilities in Nigeria. The enabling Act charged NDA with the responsibility for constructing and maintaining dams and other projects on the river Niger and elsewhere in Nigeria. Its functions also included generating electricity using water power, improving navigation, and promoting fisheries and irrigation. Owing to prevalent buck-passing between ECN and NDA on intermittent power failure in Nigeria, the Federal Government decided to merge the two organizations into one body. To achieve this, the Federal Government appointed a Canadian firm of consultants to look into the technical details of the merger in 1971. The reports submitted by the consultants, induced the Federal Governments of Nigeria to establish the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) through the amalgamation of ECN and NDA. Decree No. 24 of 1972, which gave the necessary legal backing to the new entity. The decree mandated NEPA to maintain an efficient, coordinated, and economic system of electricity supply for all parts of the federation. NEPA thus became a government monopoly, responsible for the production, transmission, and distribution of electricity to end consumers.
AN IDEA THAT FAILED TO DELIVER
All the power stations, distribution stations, and substations were specially interlinked by a transmission network called the national grid. The whole output of electricity generated nationwide was collected in a pool at the national control center, Osogbo. From there, the electricity generated was redistributed to all parts of the federation.
In other to obtain smooth transmission of the electricity generated at the different power stations, NEPA put in place a total of 11,000 Kilometers of transmission lines nationwide. In the same vein, extensive distribution of transformers and other relevant facilities were installed to ensure an even distribution of electricity to all customers across the federation.
Despite all these efforts, the situation of power supply in the country keeps worsening. This has led the government to the current phase of reform which started with the formation of PHCN. The
Electric Power Sector Reform (EPSR) Bill, signed into law on March 11, 2005, was aimed to enable private companies to participate in electricity generation, transmission, and distribution.
The signing into law of the bill ushered in the restructuring and the privatization of the electricity sector. The Act further provided for the establishment of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to monitor and regulate the power sector as it undergoes reforms. The law also terminated the existence of the National Electricity Power Authority and in its place, established the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, which was issued a temporary license
According to the EPSR Act, the federal government duly incorporated and constituted the board of directors of PHCN as a public limited liability company mandated to take over all the assets and liabilities of NEPA. The Act also provided for the unbundling of PHCN into new business units comprising six generation companies, eleven distribution companies, and one transmission company, which will be handed over to private sectors through outright core investor sales and concessions. Unfortunately, the government has failed to privatize the transmission company.
Under the Act, PHCN was required to remain in existence for only eighteen months, following which its staff and other assets and liabilities were to be assigned to the new business units created from its unbundling. This process is now completed giving birth to Generation Companies (GENCOs) and the Distribution Companies (DISCOs) leaving out the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN). The TCN is not fully privatized. This has remained a big problem in the power ecosystem.
MAIN FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR POOR POWER SUPPLY IN NIGERIA
Power Generation, Transmission And Distribution Are Grossly Inefficient. Check this out, from the point of power generation in Nigeria, there is over fifty percent loss of generated electricity. This is a fact! For instance, a study by four Delta power plants revealed a total average power generation of 30.5% out of the installed capacity. This means that a total of 69.5% of the power that would have come out of these four power plants and added to the national grid, is lost just at the point of generation. At the stage of transmission and distribution, a reasonable amount of power is also lost due to transmission lines and equipment that are grossly ill-maintained or below capacity.
According to the International Energy Agency report of 2012, electric power transmission and distribution losses in Nigeria stood at 17.22% in 2010, and the maximum figure between 1971 and 2010 occurred in the year 1981 where the loss stood at 49.27%. At the point of consumption, the majority of power consumers in Nigeria leave their electric devices “ON‟ even when they are not needed, mostly because of the default billing method adopted by the power distribution companies. This results in great power loss to the system and overloading and damage of the transmission and distribution equipment. Government Failure to Privatize the Transmission Company and Debt Burden This is a very strange attitude by the government. The assets of energy transmission are obsolete, inefficient and corruptly run resulting in the inability of the GENCOs to push out the power they generate. At some points, the GENCOs do generate up to 10,000 MW yet they will be able to send just about 3,000 MW to the DISCOs resulting in the redundancy of about 7,000 MW. The deal is that any generated power not transmitted would be bought and stored by the government. This rarely happens. Most times government fails to pay for this dormant power resulting in huge debt to the GENCOs. Unfortunately, because the GENCOs are owed by the state, they sometimes refuse to send out power to the TCN for onward delivery to the DISCOs. The TCN only transmits, at some instances, whatever amount of energy their assets can carry. It is an unproductive cycle that can only break if the TCN is made more efficient through private investments.
WHAT CAN BE DONE
Nigeria Must Look The Way Of Energy Conservation. Government should outlaw the use of electric gadgets and devices that waste electric energy and encourage the use of models of these gadgets that save energy. For instance, a 10W LED electric bulb can give the same illumination as a 100W incandescent bulb. This means 90% energy saving. Also, a 120W modern refrigerator can render the same service as a 600W older version of the fridge. Worldwide, nations are beginning to face up the challenge of sustainable energy by re-evaluating the way energy is generated and utilized so that social environmental, and economic aims of sustainable development are achieved.
The benefits of energy efficiency upon the environment are self-evident and the economic benefits of improving energy efficiency have been well documented since the first oil crisis in the early 1970‟s. Many forward-thinking industrial and commercial concerns have already adopted energy efficiency as a key policy towards maximizing profits. Niger republic, which relies partly on Nigeria for its electric energy supply, were able to achieve some level of high energy conservation and efficiency by the adoption of an energy-saving policy that mandated the consumers to shift from the use of incandescent bulbs to fluorescent lamps Also, Ghana adopted a similar policy whereby the government collaborating with product and sales companies asked residents to return their energy-inefficient refrigerators for modern energy- efficient ones at a good discount.
Nigeria can adopt a similar policy and outlaw the use of incandescent bulbs. The price of LED bulbs should be subsidized because the high price of these bulbs has been a major factor responsible for the low use of the bulbs in Nigeria. The Government can withdraw the subsidy after some time when the people have gotten used to the new technology and have realized that one LED bulb can outlast ten incandescent bulbs.
Its however good to mention that the government is already doing this through the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology. This ministry produces high conservative bulbs sold at about N500 against the types in the open market sold at N2000. More budget should go into this production and backed by total ban on the imported costly types.
Default/Estimated Billing System Must Be Outlawed
As a matter of urgency, the default billing system inherited and adopted by PHCN from NEPA and still used by the new power distribution companies, should be outlawed as it is foolish, criminal, exploitative, and destructive. A billing system that charges the same amount of money on a consumer with ten LED bulbs of 10W each (= 100W), another
consumer with ten 200W bulbs (= 2000W) and still, a third consumer that did not use electric power in his house for the whole month either because the power transformer in his area was faulty or because the family traveled, should be condemned, criminalized and discontinued. If this is not done because of the criminal nature of the billing system, let it be done because it encourages power wastage and leads to the breakdown of power distribution and transmission equipment. Distribution And Transmission Infrastructure Must Be Upgraded. Power Generation Companies (GENCOs) are not the problem. The new companies that took over electric power transmission (TCN) and distribution business in Nigeria should embark on immediate upgrading of the power transmission and distribution infrastructures. More emphasis should be on the transmission and distribution infrastructure now. After ensuring that the equipment on the ground can comfortably distribute the amount of power currently being generated and the amount of power the generating companies intend to generate then emphasis will shift to power generation. “Green energy alternatives should be explored. States in the far north of the country, with massive wind and solar resources should be encouraged to invest in this area to diminish demand on the Hydro and Gas-Powered plants located in the Southern part of the country.”
FURTHERMORE
It is disheartening that Nigeria with a population of over 200 million people has a power generation capacity of around 3,600 megawatts out of the installed capacity of over 10,000 megawatts. This is very low when compared to that of other countries like Brazil with a generation capacity of 100,000MWs of grid-based electric power for a population of 201 million people, South Africa which generates 40,000MW of electricity for 48 million citizens, and even our neighboring Ghana which generates 2,111 megawatts for a population of 23.84 million people. While it is true that Nigeria’s power generation capacity is currently below what it should be, the low power generation capacity of Nigeria is not the cause of epileptic power supply in the country. Low power generation should only result in not enough power available for consumption and not the power supply becoming erratic.
The major cause of erratic power supply in Nigeria is energy wastage by consumers occasioned by default or estimated billing systems adopted by power distribution companies. Other contributors include government misguided power reform policies, low standard, and ill- maintained transmission and distribution infrastructure. The use of unqualified and technically incompetent workforce by the power generation, transmission and distribution companies is also a factor.
These problems can be solved by sustaining the adoption of energy conservative policies like the use of LED bulbs and other energy-saving electrical and electronic devices, immediate discontinuation of default/ estimated billing system by the electricity distribution companies, upgrading of power distribution and transmission equipment, and the engagement of competent and qualified staff by the electric power companies.
I must say that some of the DISCOs have adopted a free meter policy. This is commendable and will surely give some fresh air to the efforts made to make power available to the choking populations.
Bottom line is that the Nigerian power sector is an untapped arena for serious investors but the concept of pooling generated power to one place before transmission across the nation and government unhealthy attitude in the entire system, should be discontinued immediately to give way to sustainable and viable alternative. Green energy alternatives should be explored. States in the far north of the country, with massive wind and solar resources should be encouraged to invest in this area to diminish demand on the Hydro and Gas-Powered plants located in the Southern part of the country.
