Power investors say gas shortage choking industry

Power sector investors in Nigeria have appealed to the National Assembly to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) so as to ensure adequate gas supply to the sector which is choking from a gross shortage of the product. Meanwhile, tension is high in most power companies across the country, as the six -month contractual agrrement signed between the investors and inherited workers from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) terminates today.

The power sector investors say a gross shortage of gas is crippling their revenue projections and undermining their ability to channel more monies into the business.

They add that Nigerian power concerns are suffering gas shortages because the sector is regulated and gas prices are dictated by government. For this reason, they say, local gas producers sell the product in the international market, where pricess are more attractive, leaving the local market starved.

They further observe that the passing of the PIB would deregulate the market, make the local scene competitive, and that this would serve as an incentive to gas producers to make the product available locally.

Khadija Ibrahim, chairman of the House of Representaives committee on privatisation and commercialisation, lamented the gas shortage being experienced deby the power companies and said the National Assembly would expedite action on the passage of the bill. Ibrahim , who was on an oversight visit to the companies, said the committee, had been to the Shiroro Hydro Power Plant and four distribution companies.

She commended the companies for their efforts at sustaining both the distribution and generation companies.

Oladele Amoda , the managing director and chief executive officer of Eko Electricity Distribution Company, had told the visiting House of Representatives Committee members that inadequate gas supply was a major impediment to energy production in Nigeria.

He said the zone normally would need about 700 megawatts on a normal day, but because of gas conconstraints, the amount of power it gets on the average, in the last six months, has been between 250 and 350 megawatts, with March being the worse month, with less than 150megawatts.

Talking along the same lines, his counterpart at Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company, Abiodun Ajifobaje, said the zone normally would need 1,250 megawatts daily, but supply to it has been hovering around 200-300 megawatts in the last six months because of the gas challenges.

He therefore urged the National Assembly to expedite action on the passage of the PIB so that more gas could be released for the power sector.

Meanwhile, Egbin Power Station Plc lost N8.134 per kilowatt hour to gas shortage. This amounted to a whopping sum of N5.6billion per annum.