Power Minister says 2015 dateline for Transitional Electricity Market definite

Abuja (Federal Ministry of Power Report) – The Minister of Power, Chinedu Nebo (Professor) has announced that the effective date for the take-off of all contractual obligations pertaining to Nigeria’s fledging electricity market has been fixed for January 1, 2014 to release the Transition Electricity Market (TEM).

The Minister disclosed this during a stakeholders’ forum held in Abuja on Monday December 22, 2014. Adding, the focus of TEM will be to finalise  all contractual obligations contained in its rules and to make the market more mature and robust. He also called on all participants in its process to do their beats, promising to provide a level playing ground, while Government insists on no excuse for inability to provide Nigerians with uninterrupted power supply.

Chinedu Nebo expressed the readiness of the Central Bank of Nigeria and urged all market participants to organize their documents towards accessing the cheap fund under through Government’s Intervention Initiative. He further noted that the Government is determined to radically address the lingering metering-gap existing in the power sector. ‘This, he said will help to block leakages to make more resources available for investment.

While speaking on the negative impact of vandalism on power generation, the Minister averred that he has instituted plans to stem the ugly situation in alliance with the Minister of Petroleum Resources. He noted the efforts aimed at increasing the rate of power generation through creation of access to Gas by plants built under the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) as well as enhancing transmission capacity. He intensified that Government will also pursue with vigour energy efficiency and conservation initiatives.

The Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of  Power, Godknows Igali in his remarks at the occasion charged the distribution companies to be more innovative in their load shedding arrangements. He indicated that the companies should manage scare resources by shutting out electricity supply in offices at night while the homes should have their turn during the day.

Speaking on behalf of Discos, Ernest Mupaya of Abuja Disco revealed that that his company has invested heavily on infrastructure aimed at improving service delivery. He emphasized that the company now has an integrated payment platform for the settlement of bills for improved customers’ interactions. “The paltry allocation of 285 megawatts is being consumed at the ratio of 80% for the metropolis and 20% to adjoining States and satellite settlements. With more energy available to the company, more will be made available to customers,” he promised.

“Abuja Disco has the capacity to use 700 megawatts if available on the national grid. The company is already working with Independent Power Producers (IPPs) towards harnessing the vast solar-powered energy source and other power embedded  projects to reduce concentration on the grid.”