The Nigerian Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers has called on the Federal Government to audit all power infrastructure assets in the country.
This was contained in a communique released by the institute and signed by its President, Felix Olu, which was made available to journalists on Sunday.
The communique was released at the end of a one-day conference organised by the institute in Abuja.
The advice came against the backdrop of the recent poor electricity supply in the country despite an increment in electricity tariff recently announced for Band A customers by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.
The NERC had on April 3 announced the tariff increment for Band A power consumers from N68 to N225 per kilowatt-hour.
Although DisCos strives to meet the required supply hours for Band A customers, those on Bands B, C, D, and E have been left without power.
The institute stated that the problems in the power sector were systemic, requiring a redesign of market rules to address issues of reliability and market imbalance.
According to Olu, the problems within the power sector include transmission infrastructure capacity, inefficient quality service, and the unwillingness of DISCOs to accept loads.
He said, “The problems within the power sector include transmission infrastructure capacity, inefficient quality service, as well as the unwillingness of DISCOs to accept loads, the private investor’s reluctance to invest in the power businesses and astronomical aggregated technical and commercial losses and technical auditing of all power infrastructure and assets in Nigeria (Gencos, Transco & Discos) must be carried out in earnest.
“There is no strict compliance on rule-based market design with strong penalties for defaulters, noting that the Electricity Act 2023 is silent on the handling of excess or insufficient power from the individual states and is not explicit on assigned roles for the Transmission Company of Nigeria.”
The communique further recommended, “Bottlenecks experienced in smart prepaid meter acquisition and deployment must be removed, including the engagement of local meter manufacturers just as the deployment of smart prepaid meters to customers, by meter asset providers, must be strictly in compliance with relevant statutory regulatory instruments.
“Also, technical auditing of all power infrastructure and assets in Nigeria (Gencos, Transco & Discos) must be carried out, just as the drastic reduction of distribution (ATC&C) and transmission losses to 10 per cent and 5 per cent respectively by 31st December 2024 should be achieved.”
He urged the government to set up a high-powered technical committee to review the unbundling proposal/policy and draw a workable, homemade road map.
“We also recommend that technical analysis of TCN unbundling should be handled by a team of experienced technocrats which must include engineers.
“The unbundling of TCN should commence after the states have all enacted their electricity laws, just as the bid for the unbundled entities should only be open to tested and seasoned investors.
“There should be regular stakeholder meetings between system operators, market operators, Gencos, Transcos, Discos and regulators while regulatory authorities should enforce compliance on their daily operations, the use of relevant codes, standards and regulations, in line with the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry requirements,” the NIEEE president said.
