All the 11 Power distribution companies have refused to distribute about 5,452.96 megawatts of electricity assigned to them in one week, plunging their customers in different parts of the country into darkness.
Between February 22 and 28 this year, a report by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) showed that power distribution forms did not utilize the electricity allocated to then under the Multi Year Tariff Order allocation (MYTO)
MYTO allocation is the daily national grid allocation to the power distribution companies.
The report also showed that although each of the 11 Discos had a maximum load (energy) nomination, there was a MYTO allocation for the power firms that has been approved by the industry.
It was, however, observed that the actual load consumption of most of power firms was less than the MYTO allocation that was approved by the industry, hence leading to a total of 5,452.96MW unutilised power within the one-week period.
Checks showed that on February 22, 2021, only Abuja and Port Harcourt Discos collected and distributed the entire MYTO load allocated to them while the other nine power firms failed to distribute a total of 737.74MW of electricity that day.
On February 23, all the 11 power firms could not utilise a total of 672.87MW, while the next day, Abuja, Enugu, Ibadan and Port Harcourt Discos used all their MYTO allocations, as the other seven rejected a total of 392.26MW.
The entire Discos failed to utilise and distribute 837.02MW on February 25.
Also, on February 26, 10 Discos rejected 804.74MW as Abuja Disco was the only power firm that collected and completely distributed all the load it received on.
The report showed that February 27 recorded the highest single-day load rejection,
The 11 power firms failed to utilise or distribute a cumulative total of 1,069.24MW of electricity the next day, February 27, making it the highest single-day load rejection.
On the seventh day, February 28, Abuja Disco stood out as the only power distributor that received and distributed all the load assigned to it by TCN, while the other 10 firms rejected a total of 939.09MW.
Ikeja Disco in Lagos rejected the highest quantum of electricity, as it failed to utilise 987.42MW during the seven-day period.
Abuja Disco recorded the least quantum of unutilised electricity load during the one-week period, as it rejected only 25.21MW.
On the other hand, Ikeja Disco in Lagos rejected the highest quantum of electricity, as it failed to utilise 987.42MW during the seven-day period.
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Benin, Eko, Enugu and Ibadan Discos rejected 398.21MW, 756.79MW, 250.02MW and 385.13MW respectively.
Also, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Port Harcourt and Yola Discos rejected 658.91MW, 732.05MW, 810.03MW, 122.77MW and 326.41MW, respectively.
The electricity load rejections by Discos were in spite of the fact that consumers complained about blackouts in many locations across the country.
Power distribution companies had previously explained that the supply of electricity to consumers was purely a business and should be supplied to customers who were willing to pay.
According to them, it would be counter-productive to the revenue drive of the sector if electricity was collected and distributed in locations where it had been tough for Discos to recoup the bills for power supplied.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in a bid to fix load rejection issues between the Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) says both sides would pay charges for any faults caused during load rejection.
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The NERC disclosed this in its Guidelines for Economic Merit Order Dispatch of Generation Capacity and Related Matters 2020, signed jointly by NERC’s Chairman, Mr Sanusi Garba and Mr Dafe Akpeneye, Commissioner, Legal, Licensing and Compliance.
The regulator mandated Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company to provide invoice for capacity charge and energy to DisCos based on their load allocation and metered energy respectively.
The document stated that DisCos would pay for capacity charge for rejecting load allocated to them due to challenges on their networks, while if the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) was unable to deliver a DisCo’s load allocation, the TCN would also pay for the capacity charge.