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Power Minister, Abubakar Aliyu, has provided an explanation as to why electricity supply in the country had recently taken a turn for the worse.
Since the turn of the year, Nigerians have been experiencing poor electricity supply to their homes and offices - far worse than it used to be.
The situation has continued to degenerate as people in most parts of the country have had to endure several hours of darkness.
Commenting on the development, the minister during a press briefing in Abuja attributed the outage currently being experienced around the country to hydro capacity during dry season and maintenance work at gas plants.
Consequently, the nation's gas plants have had to take up additional load which has resulted in the erratic supply.
He stated that “I would like to discuss the increased load shedding you may have observed in Abuja and other areas in the country. With the reduction in hydro capacity during the dry season, additional load needs to be taken up by our gas plants,” he said.
“We are having maintenance work in the Eastern Axis around Odukpani leading to reduced power supply from the usually reliable NDPHC Calabar Power Plant and we are having challenges at Okoloma Gas Station linked to Afam VI power plant.
“We are working with NNPC and other gas suppliers also to improve the pressure on the Western Axis that is precluding units from reaching optimum supply.”
The Minister revealed that the government is addressing the challenges by working on more gas supply contracts for the power sector through improved funding, adding that that there will be severe financial penalties for underperformance.
Aliyu also hinted that the government has drawn up short term and long term solutions to provide a permanent fix to the challenges bedeviling the power sector.
“We will complete the Zungeru Hydro plant, the Katsina Wind plant, Kashimbila Hydro as well as ensure the challenges with Gurara are permanently resolved (partnering with the Ministry of Water). We are also working to resolve issues that have prevented large on-grid solar from taking off in Nigeria.
“We are re-tooling the system operator for improved dispatch optimization based on technologies and improved maintenance schedule alignments across generators.
“The challenges have been identified and we have short term solutions as well as long term solutions,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, the Minister has cautioned Distribution Companies (DISCOS) against selling electricity meters to customers, saying procurement of meters is free of charge.