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FG- Imo: :Regulatory Oversight of The State Electricity Market Is Now Underr ISERC

By Favour Ifeoluwa & Akinola Ajibade  The Federal Government yesterday( Monday) announced the transfer of Regulatory Oversight of the Electricity Market in Imo State to the state electricity regulatory commission, otherwise known as (ISERC). In a statement issued by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Common( NERC), the development is in compliance with the amended Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFRN) and the Electricity Act 2023 (Amended), reiterating that all transfers envisaged by this order shall be completed by 31 December 2024. According to the Commission,the transfer Order’s provisions include: “Direct Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) to incorporate a subsidiary (EEDC SubCo) to assume responsibilities for intrastate supply and distribution of electricity in Imo State from EEDC, and that EEDC shall complete the incorporation of EEDC SubCo within 60 days from 27th June 2024. The subcompany shall apply for and obtain licence for the in
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Nigeria faces outage, as N1.64tr debts hits GenCos harder

By Akinola Ajibade

Non-payment of N1 64 trillion debts owed the power generation companies has culminated in the poor generation generation in the country in recent times.
DOCTOR JOY OGAJI
The development, according to operators', who does not want to be mentioned, is having dire consequences on the activities of the firms, as they struggle to pay workers among meeting other obligations.
The News Mirror investigation shows that the companies, as a result of the debts, are finding bit difficult paying for gas, which is feedstock used in generating electricity in Nigeria. 
This happens as generation dwindles in the last one month. For instance, generation has dropped drastically in the last five days( Monday, (March 20th) as a mere 2, 322.5 Megawatts ( Mw) electricity was generated that day, arguably one of the lowest in recent times.
Prior to this, generation fell to 1 145 Mw of electricity two weeks ago, a development, which stakeholders, including ( GenCos) believed might thrown the country into darkness, if measures were not taking to halt the problem.
With this, Nigeria s problems might have been compounded as the country is yet to come out of fuel scarcity, which has put the economy in s comatose.
In an interview with the News Mirror at the weekend, the Executive Secretary, Association of Power Generation Companies ( APGC) ,Dr Joy Ogaji, said that the country is facing crises, in the event that the N1.64 trillion debts owed the power firms are not paid 
APGC is an umbrella association of electricity generation firms operating in the country, while NBET as an institution of the Federal Government, is saddled with some activities in the nation's electricity market.
According to her, neither NBET nor the government has shown interest in paying the debts, stating that the developments poses great challenge to the stabilization of the power market in the country.
The issue, Ogaji said, is worrisome in view of the fact that NBET disputed the amount, which it owes generation companies.
"Recently, NBET claimed that the debts owed power generation companies are a little bit above N500billion naira, including interests. But that is not true, as NBET owe us( APGC) over N1trillion." she added.
Giving insights into the debts through a paper entitled; Annual Average Historical Generation Data Between 2013 and 2021 and made available to the News Mirror recently, Ogaji said that the firms were owed N1.64 trillion as payment for the used capacity, adding that NBET, by law is supposed to lay the money, but has refused to do so.
Asked what the companies are doing in order to recover their debts, Ogaji said that the firms through APGC are consulting with relevant stakeholders in the country, with a view to ensure that the debts are paid to the companies.
She, however, refused to reveal the identities of the stakeholders, saying that the time is not ripe yet to do so.

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