DisCos Commend FG On Power Sector Loan

The power Distribution Companies (DisCos) have lauded the federal government on the move to get a $3 billion (about N1.1 trillion) loan from the World Bank to fix the power sector liquidity crisis.

Executive Director of the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), Chief Sunday Oduntan, who spoke on Arise TV on Monday said, the loan which was announced recently by Minister of Finance Zainab Ahmed, was a good step in the right direction.

He said: “This (loan) is meant to allow us to do things that we are supposed to do while waiting for a point in time when we would face reality on the cost of the product.”

Speaking on the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Oduntan said the section of the value chain was a problem that government needed to fix. “I can confirm that the current federal government has been making a lot of effort to improve the situation of TCN,” he said.

Reacting to the recent notice of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to cancel the licences of eight DisCos that defaulted in remittances, the ANED executive said, “There is no way we can be buying a product at a higher price and selling below the cost price and one is expected to pay 100% back to the market.”

He said NERC was unfair in compelling DisCos to pay 100% to the Market Operator (MO) for sums that pay NERC and other government agency’s salaries while payment for the private operators and GenCos are neglected. “If it goes that way, no DisCo will be able to pay salary. We had a problem with one of the DisCos (Kaduna Electric) last week when they had to shut down,” he said.