The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has expressed dissatisfaction over the performance of electricity distribution companies in the country, saying there is a need for a substantial change of strategy in order to meet the electricity needs of homes and businesses.
Osibanjo spoke, yesterday, at the inauguration of a 2x60MVA, 132/33kV substation and associated 132kV transmission lines in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
He lamented the inability of the Discos to distribute available grid power to consumers.
“The distribution capacity in the 11 Discos is significantly low, hovering around 4,000 megawatts on average with a peak at about 5,400MW. So, despite all the availability of about 8,000MW of generation and 7,000MW of transmission capacity, the lack of Disco infrastructure to absorb and deliver grid power to end-users has largely restricted generation to an average of about 4,000MW, and sometimes even falling below 4,000MW,” the Vice-President said.
The distribution and generation companies carved out of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria were handed over to private investors on November 1, 2013, following the privatisation of the power sector by the President Goodluck Jonathan administration.
Osinbajo said, “It is evident that despite all the efforts that have been put into trying to expand the grid…the structure of the market today cannot deliver on the government’s promises to provide power for domestic and industrial use.
“A substantial change of strategy is necessary. There is clearly a need for a change of strategy. What we have done in the past has taken us to a point where there is clearly a change of strategy.”