By Simon Echewofun Sunday

Eleven electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) rejected 10,200 megawatts (mw) allocation in one month, industry figures have shown.

This is coming at a time the country is experiencing low generation of electricity due to gas supply constraints.

The incident happened mid February and extended to the second week of March.

The DisCos were allocated a total of 75,021mw within the period but they accepted 65,729mw which they distributed to the end users.

However, the difference of 10,200mw was rejected by different DisCos per time.

Data obtained exclusively by the Daily Trust indicated that a few DisCos in February and March took excess power totalling 780mw.

Analysis by our reporter shows that Ikeja and Benin DisCos topped the list of the highest load rejecters as they did that for over three times in the period.

On February 15, being the first day of the period in focus, the industry statistics showed that the 11 DisCos were allocated 3868.38mw based on the Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO) 2015 Allocation table.

They consumed 3151mw, leaving out 769mw. Benin and Ikeja DisCos rejected the highest load of 171mw and 159mw, while Yola DisCo rejected 9.62mw being the lowest.

On the last day of the period being March 14, 2017, the DisCos got 3,640mw allocation but consumed 3,038mw.

A balance of 607mw was turned down that day. Ibadan DisCo topped the list with 184mw while Yola DisCo, now a public-driven utility firm again rejected the least of 16mw electricity loads.

Reactions trailing the rejection

Complaints of load rejection have been heavy since the period in focus began. Spokesperson for the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Seun Olagunju in a recent statement said its System Operations – Osogbo arm directed Generation Companies (GenCos) to ramp down on production to stabilise the system due to many load rejection.

Confirming this, statistics obtained from the operators of Kainji Hydro GenCo show that due to the ramping down of load, it lost 1,420mw in just six days in March.

But in an exclusive interview and a later briefing, the 11 Distribution Companies (DisCos) speaking through the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) revealed reasons for the claimed load rejection.

ANED’s Director of Research and Advocacy, Barrister Sunday Oduntan explained that TCN often defies the daily load schedules of the DisCos by transmitting electricity to where DisCos have low distribution needs, leaving out the high areas of electricity demand.

He said: “The issue is about wrong dumping of load where the DisCos cannot recover the cost at that point as the power supply is not always enough for all the customers under a particular DisCo.”

An Abuja based Power Efficiency advocate, Mr. Odey Haruna said the 10,200mw rejected load is enough to power many industries for weeks, thereby creating productivity and leaving huge economic impacts.

Haruna advised TCN to strengthen its networks to minimise the transmission constraints leading to poor load allocation in the cities.

“The DisCos must also do their best to optimise their cables and transformers. If Nigerians are hungry for electricity and the available ones are being rejected, then it makes no economic sense completely,” he said.

Dailytrustng