The Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) has raised alarm that it is being owed nearly N600 billion by the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) and other bilateral power buyers. The company says this huge debt is affecting its operations badly and contributing to Nigeria’s poor electricity supply.
Managing Director of NDPHC, Jennifer Adighije, made this known through a statement issued by her Technical Adviser on Media, Adesanya Adejokun. She said the company is facing serious challenges including lack of gas supply, weak transmission infrastructure, and low electricity offtake by power distribution companies (DisCos).
Adighije revealed that NDPHC has been able to revive five turbine units that were previously shut down across Calabar, Omotosho, Sapele, and Ihovbor power stations. These now add 625 megawatts to the national grid. However, she said the company still has about 2,000MW of stranded power because the power cannot be evacuated or sold due to various constraints.
She said, “NDPHC currently has a mechanically available generation capacity of about 2,000 megawatts, but much of it is stranded due to lack of gas, poor gas transport infrastructure, and low offtake from the DisCos. This situation is badly affecting our finances.”
The NDPHC boss also complained that their power plants are often used by the system operator to stabilise the grid through frequency control and other services, but the company is not being paid for these services as required by electricity market rules. She said the plants are frequently ordered to start and shut down without any compensation, adding stress to the turbines.
She blamed poor transmission infrastructure and low demand from the electricity market as key problems. According to her, “Power generation depends on demand. If there is no demand, we cannot generate. Sometimes when the demand is there, the transmission lines cannot carry the load.”
Despite these problems, she said NDPHC is still investing in power infrastructure and has spent more than N500 billion on projects such as transmission lines, substations, transformers, switch gears, and other components now operated by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
She also addressed the shutdown of the Alaoji Power Plant, saying it was caused by a dispute with a gas supplier over metering. However, she promised that the plant will be back before the end of the year as work is ongoing to fix the problem.
Adighije noted that NDPHC has tried to sign a Power Purchase Agreement with NBET to improve its position in the dispatch schedule, but has not been successful. As a result, NDPHC is currently ranked low in priority when it comes to how power is dispatched to the grid, despite having enough capacity to deliver up to 2,000MW daily.
She said the company is now relying on a recent order by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), which allows power generation companies to enter direct agreements with willing buyers. NDPHC plans to sell its stranded power to eligible customers through bilateral deals.
This situation has kept many parts of the country in darkness. Reports from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission show that despite having an installed capacity of over 4,000MW, NDPHC plants are struggling to deliver even 1,000MW.
For an instant, Ihovbor 2 is the only plant performing close to its full capacity, generating 449MW out of its 461MW in April. Most other plants are operating at less than half capacity. Alaoji 1, with 500MW capacity, has not produced any power in months. Olorunsogo 2 has 750MW capacity but could only produce 24MW in April and none in March.
Sapele 1, with 720MW, managed just 23MW. Sapele 2 produced 105MW out of 500MW. Omotosho 2, also with 500MW, delivered only 21MW. Ihovbor 1 has a capacity of 500MW but only produced 83MW.
Others like Omotosho 1 and Olorunsogo 1, both with 335MW capacity, operated at 42% in April. The Omoku plant, which has a capacity of 150MW, only generated 16MW, which is just 11% of its capacity.
Efforts by reporters to get comments from NBET’s Managing Director, Johnson Akinnawo, were not successful, as he did not respond to messages.
