By Ken Afor
A staggering N190 billion owed to the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, and the Nigerian Electricity Liability Management Company for electricity supply is crippling power generation.
This was revealed by the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, NDPHC, Chiedu Ugbo on Monday.
Ugbo told Punch that the figure of N190 billion had been accumulated from 2015 up to present day due to the debts incurred from electricity supply.
He stated that the government agencies owe N190 billion from 2015 until May 2023, with the bulk of it being owed by NBET, though he did not mention the exact amount.
“Huge indebtedness by the market to NDPHC runs into hundreds of billions, N190 billion as of May for unpaid invoices. NDPHC is also not paid for availability but only as dispatched thereby depriving NDPHC of hundreds of billions since 2015 when the Transitional Electricity Market was declared, and the government has so far been denied revenue as high as N3trn,” he said.
Ugbo stated that the debt was making it hard to satisfy some of their duties, such as operational costs, including spares, payments to gas vendors, among others.
“Since we are being owed, we can’t also pay our gas suppliers and they too won’t supply us gas. Gas is what we use in generating power, and if we can’t generate; we can’t sell. The nameplate capacity of our ten plants is 4000MW. We have the capacity to generate as much as 2000MW but we currently generate 975MW,” he said.
The company stated that they had to reduce expenses, and have managed to keep the business going with income made internally, as well as assistance from the federal government.
Additionally, it was highlighted that the company desperately needs external funds immediately.
“Despite the interventions and other FGN initiatives in networks, liquidity challenges persist. It is obvious that a lot more investment is required in transmission and the government alone cannot do this. There is therefore a need for urgent private capital mobilisation, and exploring independent transmission projects starting with Gencos as investors. With NDPHC’s track record, this is possible within the shortest possible time” he said.
Meanwhile, Engr. Abdullahi Kassim, Executive Director of Generation, stated during the speech that the problems could be solved through the Corporation’s ‘Light-up Nigeria Initiative’, a program made to use their resources to deliver consistent electricity to eligible maximum demand customers, electricity distribution firms, and third-party project developers who merge load and give consistent electricity to bulk buyers.
“To underscore the importance of this programme, it is directly led by NDPHC’s Chairman, and Vice President, Sen. Kashim Shettima. The approach is to focus more on sales to bulk purchasers and developers that aggregate load because of the volume of power that can be sold on each such project (subject to the proper payment security being in place). The initiative offers a sure path to being able to sell a significant part of NDPHC’s commercially stranded capacity to light up businesses and homes,” he said.
He said that the aim of the ‘Light Up Nigeria Initiative’ is to give over 97% of generated power to the population.
