Thefts, infrastructure vandalisation, obsolete equipment due to either low or poor maintenance amongst other reason have combined to hobble the newly privatised power sector.

These revelations were thrown up when members of the Senate Committee on privatisation, led by Senator Olugbenga Obadara, chairman, who paid scheduled visits to three successors companies of the defunct public monopoly in Lagos and Ibadan.

At the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKDC), one of two DISCOs serving Lagos state, Abiodun Aifwobaje, managing director told the committee they have had to re-engage 567 former staff of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to complement the 2,070 it inherited.

Aifwobaje told members of the Senate Committee the new power firm was committed to serving the public effectively.
 
He told the lawmakers of the commitment of the company to become a leading utility business company in the country by providing “safe, reliable and quality service to customers at fair and reasonable costs; and to achieve this,” he said the new owners had taken some initiatives to reposition the company.
 
These he said included: “training and retraining for staff, repair or replacement of malfunctioning transformers and completion of abandoned distribution projects among others.”
 
On the challenges facing the company, he told the committee members that IKDC has an installed capacity of 1684MW, but was only able to distribute 421MW to customers out of the maximum demand of 938MW due to shortage of supply from the Generation Companies, power theft and vandalisation of power installations.
 
The Senate Committee also paid similar fact finding visit to the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), which serves most of the Lagos business districts. Oladele Amuda, managing director of the company told the committee members they were committed to providing uninterrupted and sustainable power supply to its customers.
 
Towards achieving the goal of smooth power distribution, Amuda said the company plans to invest N45bn in the next five years while $150 million would be spent immediately on capital projects to meet customers’ needs, network rehabilitation and reinforcement.
 
He however complained of poor power supply from the National Grid, power theft, illegal connections and vandalism of power installations as some of the challenges they were facing. He appealed to the Committee members to intervene so that generation companies could supply adequate power to the
 
 distribution companies for adequate distribution of power to consumers and for increased financial returns.
 
At the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC), CEO Atoy Leynes expressed the readiness of IBEDC to meet consumers’ needs as long as the generation companies can keep up with their demand.
 
He listed the challenges facing IBEDC as: “Poor asset performance due to age, poor transmission infrastructure and the absence of land to put up its headquarters.” Leynes requested that for the distribution companies to become financially viable to undertake aggressive investments in the power industry there should be a tariff structure that is cost reflective and the review of asset classification (Core/Non Core) of DISCOs as some assets classified as Non Core were essential to the distribution network.
 
In his remarks, Senator Olugbenga Obadara, chairman of the committee, assured the distribution companies that the Committee would do everything within its powers to find a lasting solution to shortage of power supply from the National Grid.
 
On power theft and vandalism, Obadara advised the distribution companies to liaise with security agents to set up a Task Force to checkmate the criminal acts.
 
The Committee members also visited Egbin Power Station where the Senate Committee Chairman, Senator Olugbenga Obadara noted that “everything concerning power supply starts from generation. If generation is not adequate, it directly affects distribution and the consumers on the whole”.

He therefore called on the management to strive to achieve sufficient power generation and to actualize the dream of privatisation.