Adelabu: Power plants operating below capacity due to low gas supply, unpaid debts

Adebayo Adelabu, minister of power, says unpaid debts and low gas supply are some factors preventing power plants from operating at full capacity.

Adelabu spoke on Wednesday when he visited the Olorunshogo Power Plant in Papalanto, Ogun state and the Omotosho Power Plant in Ondo.

The site tour was to assess the physical and operational state of the two government power plants under the management of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company.

Speaking on the state of the power plants, Adelabu said he was impressed with the size and the technology used, but bemoaned the under-utilisation of the facilities.

“I am amazed at the level of under-utilisation of these power installations,” he said.

“Each of them operates below 25 percent capacity. When we are still complaining that power generation is low in this country.

“The under-capacity utilisation is due to a variety of reasons. The major part of it is the shortage in gas supply to these installations. Which is why I needed to see these plants myself. To look at what we can do to improve the operational capacity of these plants.

“What can we do to repair those turbines that are down? What can we do to support these power plants to operate at impressive capacity so that power supply will improve nationwide?”

Adelabu also said huge debts are being owed to the generation companies as a result of the electricity subsidy, suggesting a migration to what he called “cost-reflective tariffs”.

“We also want to appeal to the federal government that once there is a subsidy promise, it has to be fully funded,” the minister said.

“If our government is not ready to fund subsidies, it is better for us to migrate to a fully cost-reflective tariff; because liquidity is a major issue in the sector, which has led to a huge debt being owed to power generating companies. 

“And once they are owed, they are also unable to pay the gas suppliers.

“When the gas suppliers are not paid, they will be unwilling to supply regular gas to them. So why are these debts piling up? Part of the debts are owed by the DisCos.

“The federal government is also owning a huge portion of these debts, which relates to the unfunded portion of the subsidy.”

Adelabu, however, said efforts are afoot to make power available to Nigerians, especially through reliable energy sources.

He also said the country would be losing if the plants were sold at their current state.

“We have invested so much in these power installations. I mean they are just about 12 years old,” he added.

“But if you look at the running hours of all the plants that we have in this conference, they are almost close to being new plants. Almost all of them are below 30,000 running hours since inception.”

He assured that the frequent drops in power generation being experienced by Nigerians due to gas would be improved soon, adding that the ministry will offset part of the huge gas debts.