…commends Ikeja Electric for always striving to improve supply, but can do more.
The Federal Government has said the Transmission Company of Nigeria TCN will not have any challenge wheeling additional 2000 megawatts of electricity, as it has wheeled 5000 megawatts before.
According to the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu the additional 2000 megawatts would be made available in six months, stating that if that comes on stream the power situation in the country would improve tremendously.
He said achieving a stable power supply is not insurmountable
Speaking at the company’s corporate headquarters in Alausa, Ikeja, he explained that unless there is cost- reflective tariff, the challenges facing the industry would not go away.
According to him, the implementation of a cost-reflective tariff for the power sector would take effect in three years from now
The Minister bemoaned the level of investments across Discos, describing the situation as very low due to lack of funds to carry out infrastructure upgrades.
He urged Ikeja Electric to improve its service delivery level to enable it justify the reason for the tariff increase.
He said the Ministry would do all it can to ensure that Discos up their game through massive investment and if that fails it would resort to legislative backing
Adelabu added that all hands must be on deck among all operators within the power sector value chain.
He said it remained worrisome that the country with an installed capacity of 13,000MW was generating a paltry 4,000MW.
”Going forward, efforts will now be concentrated on development and infrastructure upgrade from Discos to Gencos and then transmission.
If we get it right at the DisCo level, then we are most certain that we are almost getting there,”.
”This meeting is planned, not accidental. You have made landmark achievements in the last 10 years.
You have done well in relation to other DisCos. We can just shake your hands and leave, but they say the biggest room is the room for improvement.
You are a model DisCo, the biggest in terms of revenue collection.”
“I don’t know the one that is bigger between you and Ibadan DisCo in terms of industrial clusters because I am aware there are a lot of industries within your catchment areas.
This is the time that you (Discos) should work hard with us to get desired improvements in power supply to people and businesses,”.
He urged the DisCos to work closely with the Federal Government to expedite national development through a sustainable power sector for reliable and cost-effective sustainable power supply.
Folake Soetan, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Ikeja Electric, while reeling out some of the giant strides recorded by the company earlier in her address, said the total CAPEX in 2015 was N5 billion but has grown to N50.58 billion in 2023.
She added that the average revenue collection in 2015 was N3.75 billion and grown to N18.22 billion as at 2023.
On metering, she said 30,000 meters were deployed to consumers as of 2015, a figure which has hit 800,000 as of 2023.
Soetan lamented that revenue collection in the industry is largely hampered by the huge metering gap and non-payment of bills.
She expressed worries that meter bypass and energy theft have contributed immensely to the loses recorded by Discos.
The Ikeja Electric boss said power generating capacity was still significantly lower than the demand for electricity which she said has resulted in frequent power outages and load shedding
