Half of electricity generated in August unutilised as GenCos lose N222bn

Half of the electricity produced by electricity generation companies (GenCos) in August did not get to consumers.

According to a document released by the Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC), the umbrella body of GenCos, on Monday, 49.90% of electricity generated in the month was stranded.

The GenCos said the average generation for August was 3,872 megawatts (MW), while the volume of stranded generation (power unable to get to the national grid) was 3,857MW.

However, the available generation capacity for the month was put at 7,729MW.

“Maximum stranded generation was recorded on 18th September where stranded power totalled 4,669.5MW (Gas: 2,640.7 and DisCos low load demand: 2,028.8MW),” the GenCos said.

“Of the total constraint recorded, gas constraint accounted for 64 percent while load rejection by DisCos accounted for 36 percent. Total capacity loss from January to September 2020: N222.82 billion.”

TheCable had reported how Nigeria’s actual electricity generation only increased by 776MW since the privatisation of the power sector in 2013.

“If one considers the fact that the DisCos have in the recent past been operating around 3,500MW or below, this figure escalates to 4,000MW of idle capacity. In effect, the GenCos are not able to deploy over 4,000MW of idle power,” the GenCos had said.

There is a gap between the generation capacity of GenCos and the capacity of DisCos, leading to a case of unutilised electricity.