Power sector loses N24 billion monthly to diesel generators

diamond hope

February 13, 2018 11:32 AM

Due to consumers preference of diesel generators, the power sector loses million in revenue.

On Monday, February 12, 2018, the Minister of State for Power, Works, and Housing, Suleiman Hassan disclosed that Nigerias electricity sector is losing N24 billion monthly to the diesel generator market because consumers embrace it as an alternative.

He said this at the February 2018 edition of the monthly power sector operators' meeting in Abuja where he explained that on the average, 300 million liters of diesel were consumed monthly to power these generating sets.

Hassan said that "Many of them use diesel. Diesel importation has been declining over the last two years. Many are reporting that they ran their generators for noticeably few hours. This is progress. However, Nigerians still consume about 300 million liters of diesel every month and most of this is used to power generators.”

"About 75% is imported, putting pressure on a scarce foreign exchange. Assuming 40% of the consumption is used for power generation at an average price of N200 per liter, the electricity industry is losing N24 billion every month largely to imported energy."

He further stated: "At the same time, there is about 2,000MW of electricity generating capacity that is unutilized. Therefore, the challenge of the moment before the industry is how to deliver the unutilized capacity to consumers who are willing to pay for it and are already paying dearly for alternatives."

He said the government has scheduled a meeting this week with the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) to try and find the best ways to implement the eligible customers regulation, which the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) recently made.

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