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Eko Disco gets additional 160MW of electricity

By on March 25, 2016

Eko Electricity Distribution Company Plc said it had secured additional 160 megawatts of electricity to augment its allocation from the national grid.

The company, which is one of the 11 distribution companies in the country, said it had entered into bilateral agreements with Egbin Power Plc and Paras Energy & Natural Resources Development Limited for 100MW and 60MW, respectively.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Eko Electricity Distribution Company, Mr. Oladele Amoda, in a telephone interview with our correspondent, said the company was already receiving the additional power from Egbin, the nation’s biggest power plant.

Amoda disclosed that the EKEDC was concluding the Power Purchase Agreement with Paras, adding that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission had approved the transaction.

He said the company was also working on its embedded power programme aimed at producing 480MW of electricity for distribution to its customers.

“We are buying 60MW from Paras; they have excess power. We are already receiving from Egbin. For the 60MW from Paras, we are almost concluding the PPA because we have to sign PPA, and then put every other thing in place for us to start receiving power from them; that will be in addition to whatever we get from the grid.

“The PPA is actually ready. The Transmission Company of Nigeria is going to wheel the power to us through the national grid. So, once we signed off with TCN, then we will be able to receive the power. The NERC has approved it. So, it is just between us and the TCN. We need to be assured through Memorandum of Understanding that they can wheel the power effectively to us.”

According to him, Eko Disco gets 11 per cent of the generated electricity from the national grid.

He said other Discos were also looking at the model of getting supplementary power from Independent Power Producers, adding, “It is only that we are at the forefront. But I am sure a couple of other Discos are also looking towards that area.

“The government is encouraging private participation in the power sector. So, IPPs are being encouraged to produce power as a supplement to whatever is being generated to the grid.”

“All the Discos are making one investment or the other. Some are making more investments than the others, but I know every Disco is making investment, no matter how small. Because if you don’t make investment, you can’t even sustain the existing network. Probably the Discos are not doing enough, but we are trying our best.”

He said in Eko Disco, they had spent more than N11bn on network rehabilitation, network reinforcement, expansion of injection substations and purchase of meters to reinforce the system, among others.

Amoda said, “Apart from that, we have spent about N6bn on metering so far, and we still plan to spend more. For the MD meters, we have spent $16m (about N3bn) and for the non-MD (for residential and small commercial customers), we have spent about N3bn and we are still spending.”

 

[Punch]