The issue of irregular power supply is not strange in Nigeria as it has long-gone become the cohabiting companion. Though, lately effort has been paraded towards making power available and affordable for general consumption.

Non-Payment: Gencos Lose N1.66trillion over Unused Power

In the midst of the charge, power generation companies in Nigeria have said they suffered a loss of N1.66tn in seven years as a result of non-payment for deemed capacity.

This came through the Executive Secretary, Association of Power Generation Companies, the umbrella body for the Gencos, Dr Joy Ogaji.

She disclosed this on Wednesday at a stakeholders’ meeting on the Regulators Monitoring Programme on electricity organised by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.

Ogaji said the available generation capacity dropped to 6,192.34 megawatts this year from 7,792.51MW in 2020 while the average generation capacity rose to 4,120.96MW from 4,050.07MW.

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According to the Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC), deemed capacity is the capacity that should have been delivered, but for the system operator’s instruction to a Genco to derate or reduce its capacity to achieve grid balance and stability.

In her statement, 34.20 per cent (2,117.86MW) of the Gencos’ generation capacity are currently stranded, compared to 48.03 per cent (3,742.43MW) in 2020.

She said the Gencos recorded a capacity payment loss of N151.22bn this year, N266.10bn in 2020, N256.97bn in 2019, N264.08bn in 2018, N236.47bn in 2017, N273.32bn in 2016 and N214.93bn in 2015.

The government-owned Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc buys electricity in bulk from Gencos through Power Purchase Agreements and sells through vesting contracts to the distribution companies, which then supply it to the consumers.