The Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) Limited has expressed concerns over the nearly N600 billion debt owed to it by Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) and other bilateral entities.
A statement by its Managing Director of NDPHC, Mr Jennifer Adighije, in Abuja on Sunday, said the debt was hindering the company’s operations.
Adighije lamented the dismal uptake of electricity from the electricity market, gas supply challenges, and transmission constraints, which significantly weigh down the company’s operations.
She said that NDPHC had made several attempts to enter into a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with NBET to no avail, which would have improved NDPHC’s merit order in the dispatch priority schedule.
“Currently, NDPHC is placed in the least priority bucket for dispatch in spite of its available daily dispatch capacity of about 2,000MW.
“By no small measure, NDPHC remains the largest fleet of generating turbine units in the sector, conversely, much of that capacity remains stranded due to these impediments that constrain the company from generating optimally, ” she said.
Adighije explained that the company was leveraging on the order issued by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on bilateral agreements to sell its stranded power and should soon conclude some deals with off-takers.
She added that the company was prioritising direct supply to bilateral and eligible customers to commercialize its stranded capacity.
The NDPHC MD highlighted the company’s achievements, including the resuscitation of five turbine units across Calabar, Omotosho, Sapele, and Ihovbor plants that were previously offline, contributing an additional 625 megawatts to the national grid.
She also noted that NDPHC’s National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) plants were utilised by the system operator to carry out primary frequency response, enabling power grid stability.
Adighije outlined the company’s future plans, including investing in transmission projects such as transformers, transmission sub-stations, switch gears, switch yards, transmission lines, and line bay extensions.
She also mentioned that the Alaoji Power Plant would become functional again before the end of the year, adding that significant steps had taken to restore the Gas Metering Station (GMS) to provide a lasting solution to gas losses to the plant.
Adighije emphasised that despite the challenges, NDPHC continuef to spearhead transmission grid expansion plans and distribution network interventions to enable power generation to be delivered to the last mile underserved communities.
She noted that the company has invested more than N500 billion in transmission projects since the inception of NIPP.
