Electricity Generation Drops By 561MW In 24 Hours

The nation’s electricity generation declined by 560.6 megawatts on Thursday, worsening the blackouts experienced in parts of the country.

Total generation from the 27 power plants on the national grid stood at 3,056MW as of 6am on Thursday, down from 3,617.5MW on Wednesday, according to data from the Nigeria Electricity System Operator.

Electricity generation in the country has been hovering between 3,000MW and 4,000 MW as a result of gas constraint, transmission line issues and low demand by electricity distribution companies.

The system operator put the nation’s installed generation capacity at 12,910.40MW; available capacity at 7,652.60MW; transmission wheeling capacity at 8,100MW; and the peak generation ever attained at 5,375MW.

The nation generates the bulk of its electricity from gas-fired power plants, while output from hydropower plants makes up about 30 per cent of the total.

The Minister of Power, Mr Sale Mamman, said in December that the Discos had not been distributing all the power wheeled to them on the pretence that the consumers were unable to pay for the power.

This, he said, necessitated the huge Federal Government’s subsidy intervention in the power sector by paying the generation companies for undistributed power.

He said the huge subsidy was an overbearing burden on the government, adding that over 2,000MW of electricity was not being distributed due to the failure of the distribution chain.