Discos reject 5,451MW of electricity in 7 days
Power distribution companies(Discos) rejected a total of 5,451.05 megawatts of electricity between January 13 and January 19, 2020, latest industry figures obtained from the Federal Ministry of Power on Sunday showed.
Findings revealed that the Discos rejected electricity on each of the stated days despite the lack of power in various locations across the country.
Our correspondent gathered that on January 13, 14, 15 and 16, the power firms rejected 1,265.96MW, 855.43MW, 800.52MW and 213.05MW of electricity respectively.
On January 17, it was observed that of the 11 Discos operating in Nigeria, only Kaduna Disco rejected electricity load of 37.44MW, while the other 10 power distributors accepted a cumulative excess load allocation of 698.5MW.
But on January 18 and 19, the 11 Discos again rejected 1,006.14MW and 1,272.51MW of electricity respectively.
It was further observed that the Maximum Load Nominations, the daily estimates of power requested by the Discos, were lower than the actual amount of power accepted by the power firms in six out of the seven-day review period.
This implies that the Discos could not accept the quantum of electricity which they originally requested from the Transmission Company of Nigeria.
Also, the Multi Year Tariff Order allocations, which were the daily national grid allocations to the Discos, were lower than the actual amount of power accepted by the power firms in six out of the seven-day review period.
Further analysis of figures from the FMP on Sunday showed that on January 19, 2020, for instance, the total Maximum Load Nomination for the 11 Discos was 3,342.42MW, while their total MYTO allocation was 4,451.22MW.
The actual consumption, which was the amount of power accepted by the Discos on January 19, 2020, was 3,178.72MW, indicating that the power distributors rejected 1,272.5MW when compared with the MYTO allocation for that same day.
On several occasions, the TCN had condemned the continued load rejection by Discos and called for the recapitalisation of the distribution companies in order for them to adequately improve on their networks.
Also, power consumers wondered why the Discos would be rejecting electricity when millions of Nigerians lacked power in their various homes.
The Managing Director, TCN, Usman Mohammed, had told our correspondent in Abuja that load rejection by Discos was not only affecting the national grid negatively but was also hampering the progress that should be recorded in the power sector.
Also, the Secretary-General, Nigerian Electricity Consumers Advocacy Network, Uket Obonga, said latest findings by NECAN showed that Discos were now rejecting more power than they used to before the sector was privatised.The complaint by Discos has been that often times, they do not get power allocated to locations where they need it the most.

This, according to them, had also made it tough for Discos to accept electricity load deposited in areas where they less needed it, especially when it is difficult to recoup revenue from such locations. The Punch