Adelabu: Electricity produced with petrol generator now costs N750/kWh

Adebayo Adelabu, minister of power, says one kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity produced by petrol-powered generators now costs N750.

Speaking at a recent event in Lagos, Adelabu also said electricity generated using diesel-powered generators costs N950 per kilowatt-hour.

Adelabu said both are higher than the N209/kWh charged to Band A customers.

According to the ministers, while customers opposed the Band A tariff, they knew it was more affordable than generating their electricity with petrol or diesel.

He said in 2023, a revenue of N1 trillion was made in the power sector while N16.5 trillion was spent in procuring petrol, and diesel to run power generators due to unstable electricity supply.

“But today that we have a more stable supply than we used to have, a lot of people do not spend on fuel again, not on diesel, not on petrol,” Adelabu said.

“Now, we are charging N209 as a full cost-reflective tariff for Band A, but for you to generate a kilowatt hour of power using a petrol generator to pay, at this rate of N1,000 per litre, it is going to be about N750 for a kilowatt-hour; and for diesel, it remains about N915.

“So, power sector consumers are like a beautiful bride that has now tried two matrimonies. If they want to be sincere, they know which of the husbands to remain with.”

He called on electricity consumers to support electricity distribution companies (DisCos) to sustain the present reforms in the sector to prevent going back to fuel generators.

“So, we are adopting commercialisation in the sector to enable investors to have a line of sight to the return of their investments,” he said.

Adelabu said the country is adopting commercialisation in the power sector to “enable investors to have a line of sight to the return of their investments”.