Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) are to be held accountable going forward in the event of poor power supply in the country, the Federal Government said on Wednesday.
The FG also threatened tough sanctions, including licence revocation, against them, if they failed to improve.
“Moving forward, I’m committed to holding all distribution companies accountable for their performance.
“Wilful non-performance will not be tolerated, and severe consequences, including licence revocation, may be imposed,” the minister said in a statement.
The minister who deplored the erratic electricity supply in country, summoned the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) for a meeting on Tuesday.
The Daily Crucible reports that in the last three months, Electricity supply has dipped across Ogun State which falls within the business jurisdiction of IBEDC operations and the experience is similar in other parts of the country being handled by other DidCos. There seemed to be no end in sight.
This prompted the minister to express serious concern over the poor performance of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).
The causes of the outages and poor supply were attributed to lack of adequate gas supply, grid breakdown, low supply from Generating Companies (GenCos), the inability of DisCos to wheel supply from GenCos and sabotage.
Adelabu, who tweeted on his X handle, reiterated the reasons for summoning the AEDC and IBEDC chief executives and the TCN Managing Director.
He gave the reason as an attempt to find a plausible solution to the power supply in their zones.
Adelabu described as “disheartening” the decline in power supply despite the concerted efforts to improve the situation.
He noted that his Ministry has been exerting pressure on the GenCos to enhance their performance, resulting in a recent increase in generation to over 4000MW.
“Despite this progress”, the minister said, “certain distribution companies are failing to adequately distribute the power supplied by TCN, while vandalism of power infrastructure exacerbates the problem in regions such as Abuja, Benin, Port Harcourt, and Ibadan.
“The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the worsening power supply in their respective regions and to collectively find lasting solutions.”
The minister threatened to henceforth hold the DisCos accountable for their performance.
He said: “Willful non-performance will not be tolerated, and severe consequences, including license revocation, may be imposed.
“Additionally, I have instructed TCN to prioritise repair works on damaged transmission towers and power lines to improve supply in affected regions.”
Adelabu recalled that during recent supervisory visits to power-generating plants, he witnessed firsthand the challenges faced by the sector.
He spoke of plans to settle outstanding debts to power generation and gas supply companies, which will alleviate the financial strain and contribute to improved generation levels nationwide.
Pleading with consumers for understanding, Adelabu said he and his team had been making frantic efforts to tackle the challenges.
“I urge electricity consumers to remain patient as we work tirelessly to address these issues and provide better service to all Nigerians,” he said.
The Nation learnt last night that the payment of $120 million out of the $1.3 trillion owed to the gas suppliers has unsettled the GenCos.
The GenCos are said to be meeting to press for the payment of their outstanding debts.
A source from the GenCos, who was privy to the meeting, said: “Since the Federal Government has made $120 million payment to the gas suppliers as part of their debt, we are also meeting to ask the same government to settle us, the GenCos.”
Adelabu’s Special Adviser on Strategic Communications and Media Relations, Bolaji Tunji, confirmed the scheduled meeting with the TCN and DisCos.
