Electricity Will Drop By 300MW After Rainy Season – NERC

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has said power generation will drop by 300 megawatts after rainy season and this will partly cancel the improvement in electricity supply experienced recently in some parts of the country.

While answering questions during a recent e-conference on power sector reforms, organised by Spaces for Change, a human rights organisation, the Chairman of the NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, said the recent improvement had been due to repairs of some power plants and high water volume occasioned by the rainy season.

Amadi told the moderator of the e-conference, Zainab Usman, of the International Crisis Group, Brussels, that it was unrealistic to expect more than 5000MW by December.

He urged Nigerians not to be too hopeful about the recent improvement, stating that a massive haulage of power will come in the near future.

“The current improvement in generation is because of repairs on plants which resulted in the recovery of lost capacity, and of course, the rise in rainfall has helped us to recover about 200 to 300MW lost during the dry season.

“We have over 20000MW of licensed power. If we succeed in creating a market that allows for these licensees to get to bankability for their projects, then we are home and dry. So, we should not invest much hope on this small improvement.

“The key thing is to let Nigerians know that although in the next eight months or so, we may not see a major haul of new power, in the subsequent eight months, we will make significant and sustainable progress,” he said.