In a bid to enhance dialogue in the Nigerian power sector space, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has officially launched the power sector recovery programme website.
The website was officially launched on Wednesday at a media workshop on power sector recovery plans held in Abuja.
The Power Sector Recovery Programme (PSRP) is a comprehensive reform programme aimed at improving power supply, restoring financial viability and enhancing accountability and transparency in the power sector.
What NERC is saying
In his welcome address, the Chairman of NERC, Engr. Sanusi Garba Recalled that the power sector reform initiated by the federal government started as far back as 2005 with the creation of the EPSR Act which is the legal basis for the reform itself.
Giving his speech, Garba said, “I want to use this opportunity to just go down memory lane. Recall the power sector reform initiated by the federal government started as far back as 2005, with the creation of a power sector reform act which is the legal basis for the reform itself.
“In 2010, the government launched the roadmap to power sector reform. The reason for the launch was clearly that between 2005-2010.
“Eventually In 2013, there was a massive privatization that took place. Privatization of the distribution company. with the Federal Government retaining the ownership of the transmission company.
“Associated with the privatisation itself, performance agreements were signed between the bureau of public enterprises and the core investors that took over the assets.
“Particularly for DisCos, it was a little bit more complex in the sense that they had what is called lost reduction trajectory over a period of 5 years.”
He said looking at the condition of the state of the DisCos, the government came up with a policy document that clearly has a number of actions and deliverables and funding in getting the sector to recover.
“Recovering the DisCos from the state where they are, requires so much to be done and not only in terms of funding but also in terms of corporate governance and capacity building.
“The recovery programme is further complicated by the recent emerging challenges in the country. Quite a number of the distribution companies are largely affected by the security challenges in the country impacting their capacity either to deliver service or even to recover their revenue and so on.
“At the end of it all, I am happy to say that all the stakeholders involved in the power sector recovery programme are very much on track to doing what needed to be done both in terms of financial performance of the distribution companies, energy optics and so on,” he said.
The NERC chairman urged Nigerians to visit the PSRP website https://www.psrp.org.ng/customer-resources/ a platform aimed at interacting with Nigerians to get feedback on the issues of the power sector in Nigeria.
He said the website provides a Channel of communication to the Nigerian people in order to enhance conversation and dialogue on what Nigeria is doing to get the power sector to work.
While presenting an overview and update of the PSRP, Belije Madu, the PSRP secretariat said the issue of the power sector in Nigeria is centred around technical, financial and commercial components which all need to be synchronized.
He revealed that tariff shortfall payment has been cut-down from a historic accumulation of N1.891 billion to 247 billion in 2021 and the debts are projected to be eliminated by December 2022.
“We are aiming to make sure that the tariff shortfalls goes away by December,” Mr Madu said.
“Regarding the 4,500 MW, we have set both the financial and the commercial equivalent to ensure balance,” he added.
What you should know
- In 2005, the Electric Power Sector Reform (EPSR) Act was enacted and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) was established as an independent regulatory body for the electricity industry in Nigeria.
- The PRSP helps address the constraints in the distribution segment via the implementation of performance improvements plans ( PIPs)
- The PSRP interventions for the power sector include four major interventions monitored by the power sector recovery operations secretariat.
- These interventions include operational/technical interventions, governance interventions, policy interventions and financial interventions to eliminate sector deficits.
- Under the operational/ technical intervention, the PRSP seeks to ensure that a minimum of 4,500 MW of generation capacity is available daily in Nigeria.
- Stakeholders involved in PSRP include: Presidency, Generating companies(GenCos), DisCos, TCN, NDPHC, NBET, NERC, NELMCO, CBN, federal ministry of power and the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
- The PRSP implementation partners include, the World Bank Group, Power Africa (USAID), the French development agency, the Foreign Commonwealth & Development office, the African Development Bank Group and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.