Osefan Anegbe, Associate at Streamsowers & Köhn has identified some opportunities and challenges of renewable energy for consumers following the newly signed Electricity Act by President Bola Tinubu.
Anegbe speaking as one of the panelists at the Nairametrics Webinar tagged ‘Embracing Opportunities for a Prosperous Power Sector’ said the new act which mandated the integration of renewable energy sources will ensure the energy security, better quality of service, and more choices for the consumers.
She noted that the act will also help to guarantee the protection of consumer rights and bring about innovation in infrastructure.
However, Anegbe noted that the challenges to consumers will be the high initial cost of electricity, education, integration into the power grid, and limited technical expertise and capacity.
- “I would say that consumers will have increased electricity access, and we will have more options with renewable energy. Consumers do not mind paying for power, they just want to be sure that they can get that power.
- There’s a challenge of paying the initial high costs, but they are sure of what they are getting, and they can measure which is metering, the opportunities are there with increased access, and more options. the ability to even switch users, if I don’t want the company that is serving me, I can switch to the next one.
- If I don’t want this product, I can switch to the other provider, there are options available to consumers,” she said.
Anegbe noted that there are also environmental benefits against traditional energy sources, like oil and gas which are bringing disruption to the climate.
- “We will have a better environment or a cleaner environment where we have less carbon monoxide and CO2 emissions.
- And then we also have job creation and economic growth largely because when more investors are playing in the renewable energy space, we will have more revenue. And then we will have more increased economic growth for the country,” she said.
What she anticipated about the challenges of renewable energy
She further stated that the challenges she is anticipating would be the initial high cost.
- “I recall that some years ago when the renewable energy space was set to expand, we had people who were looking for clients to sell these things to.
- Now, consumers are looking for which one is the most affordable. So, we have a high cost here, we also have the integration of renewable energy sources into the grid, which the act has mandated.
- We have the issue of limited capacity or limited expertise, which the act has also provided for, in introducing the training fund.
- A big issue is education, consumers need to be educated about what these benefits and what opportunities are, and how they can get what they want, which is power supply.
- There is the challenge of education and most of the customers don’t even know what’s available to them and what options they can choose from. There is also the challenge of distribution networks and how we will be able to transmission,” she said.
