The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has said the power distribution companies will be liable to capacity charge for failure to take their entire load allocation caused by constraints in their networks.

NERC disclosed this in a document seen by our correspondent on Thursday in which it announced to the Discos the review of the extraordinary tariff review application filed by them.

Last week, the Discos announced what they called “new service reflective tariff”, which took effect from September 1, 2020, with the tariffs being charged residential consumers receiving a minimum of 12 hours of power supply rising by over 70 per cent.

The PUNCH had reported on Monday that the Transmission Company of Nigeria said the Discos failed to distribute 8,733.39MW in the week ended August 30.

The TCN, which manages the national grid, is still fully owned and operated by the government.

“Where it is established that the TCN is unable to deliver load allocation, the TCN shall be liable to pay for the associated capacity charge,” NERC said in the document.

According to the regulator, where a Disco fails to take its entire load allocation due to constraints in its own network, it shall be liable to pay the capacity charge as allocated in its vesting contract.

It said, “The average tariff for each Disco was determined considering the projected energy offtake of the company based on its percentage load allocation in the vesting contract.

“NBET shall continue to invoice the Disco for capacity charge and energy based on its load allocation and metered energy respectively in accordance with the December 2019 Minor Review of MYTO 2015 and Minimum Remittance Order for Year 2020.”

NERC said several Discos and the TCN considered the current Multi-Year Tariff Order load allocation as sub-optimal, given the changes that had occurred in load growth and capacities of the transmission and distribution networks.

It added, “However, a full justification for a holistic review of the MYTO load allocation could not be established during this extraordinary tariff review process.

“Accordingly, the commission orders that the current MYTO load allocation shall be maintained for the purpose of computing the relevant tariffs of all Discos.”

Total power generation in the country stood at 3,127.6 megawatts as of 6am on Thursday, according to data from the Nigerian Electricity System Operator.

The TCN’s data on national grid performance from August 24 to 30 which was released on Saturday showed that the electricity distributed by the Discos during the week averaged 3,419.78MW.

The system operator put the national peak demand forecast at 28,290MW; installed generation capacity at 12,910.40MW; available capacity at 7,652.60MW; transmission wheeling capacity at 8,100MW; and peak generation at 5,420.30MW.

NERC, in its report on power supply status on all 132/33/11kV interface substation in August, warned Discos against load rejection.

It said, “Discos should be cautioned on deliberate refusal to clear faults on some 33kV feeders within the timeline of eight hours as stipulated in the Reporting Compliance Regulations.

“Discos should also be cautioned against deliberate isolation of some sections of 33kV feeders to limit the loading of the feeders and denying customers electricity services.”

The Year 2020 Coconut Day Celebration organized by the Lagos State Coconut Development Authority at Lagos Farm Centre, Agege.
The Lagos State Government has stated that it will soon establish a coconut processing factory in Badagry to further optimise the use of coconut and harness the economic potentials in the value chain.

The State Acting Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms. Abisola Olusanya, who disclosed this today at the Year 2020 Coconut Day Celebration organised by the Lagos State Coconut Development Authority at Lagos Farm Centre, Agege, said that the factory would be exclusively dedicated to the processing of coconut husk to coir and coco peat, among others, under a Public-Private Partnership arrangement in the State’s Y2021 Annual Work Plan and Budget.

She noted that these initiatives further reinforce the State’s position as the number one coconut producer in Nigeria, in addition to providing employment opportunities for the teeming citizens, stressing that the processing factory would also catalyse the entire industry, such that more people will come within the sub-sector and create additional business opportunities in the value chain.

The Acting Commissioner revealed that Lagos State is the largest coconut producing State in Nigeria, contributing over 70 percent to what the nation produced, saying “I believe Nigeria as a whole produces over 350,000 tonnes of coconut annually but it is far behind what the likes of Philippines, Malaysia and other Asian countries are producing on an annual basis”.

“It is believed that with all these efforts, Lagos State will continue to be the number one coconut producer in Nigeria. This will, to a great extent, provide jobs and employment for teeming citizens. The support will also lead to various job creation in other areas aside from the above mentioned and contribute to export and foreign exchange earnings for Nigeria”, she said.

While reiterating Governor Sanwo-Olu’s commitment to adopting a much more robust food security strategy for the State next year, the Acting Commissioner said the theme of this year’s celebration “Coconut in the 21st Century Economy” was aimed at creating awareness for the promotion of production, processing, utilisation and commercialisation of the coconut value chain.

She said that the occasion takes into cognisance the fact that Nigeria ranks l8 among over 92 coconut producing countries of the world, of which Lagos State contributes about 70 percent of national production of coconut and its products.

“This occasion, therefore, serves as another timely wake up to go back to the basics and rekindle the interests and values of coconut and its plethora of products for social, environmental, economic and wellness advantages as seen to be practised and enjoyed sustainably by coconut driven economies. Lagos has a comparative advantage for coconut production, processing, utilisation and commercialisation and as of today, remains the hub of Coconut in Nigeria and all coconuts traversing the West Coast of Africa”, she said.

Olusanya noted that implementation of many initiatives in the coconut sub-sector by the State Government is to further bring awareness of the potentials of coconut that have not been fully tapped.

She congratulated all the coconut value chain actors and assured them of government’s continuous support in providing an enabling environment to unleash potentials of the wonder crop to an enviable level.

In his presentation, Dr. Joshua Odewale of the Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR), Benin City, Edo State, urged the government to set up an endowment fund for coconut and coconut products, national consumption and export for about 20 years, noting that the Philippines set a 25-year endowment fund goal.

He expressed the need for government to take coconut as a personal crop, know the crop and identify the genuine stakeholders in the coconut industry as well as the secondary product needs of the industry.