NDPHC committed to strengthening power-up initiative as debt profile hits N180bn
The Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) has said that the debt profile of the country’s power system has reached about N180 billion and not N3trillion as being reported by some media organisations.
Managing Director of the company, Chiedu Ugbo, said that despite the whopping debt challenges, it is progressing with the Light Up Nigeria project.
Ugbo who spoke at a media roundtable in Lagos on Monday said the Light Up exercise has commenced with Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) targeting supply to Ota Industrial Clusters, while many other projects are also on with other Distribution Companies (DisCos), adding that the debt profile is not deterring the company from sustaining and advancing the Light up Nigeria project.
He listed those owing the company to include Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET), while some debts are in the name of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN),
The Executive Director Generation, Engineer Abdullahi Kassim, ED Networks, Engineer Ifeoluwa Oyedele, and Executive Director, Legal Services, Dr. Steven Andzenge, Ugbo added that the company is also indebted to other entities in the value chain including the gas producers.
The NDPHC boss said that the company was also indebted to other entities in the value chain, which include the gas producers.
On the Light UP Project of the company, the NDPHC boss said, “We have started with Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company, IBEDC, to supply Ota Industrial Clusters, while many other projects are also on with other DisCos.”
He said that the stake of 10 Integrated Power Plants, NIPPs, was embargoed because the owners of the business were yet to take a decision to sell.
“The owners of the business have not come up with a decision to sell. We at the NDPHC are just care-takers.
“We will act based on any decision taken by the owners of the business, which are the federal and the state governments,” he said.
Constraints within the transmission and distribution system have left a major percentage of 3,585-megawatt installed capacity of the company stranded.
NDPHC is the implementing entity for the Nigeria Independent Power Plants (NIPP), which commenced the design of 10 NIPP power plants in 2006 with eight already completed while two are yet to be commissioned.
The power plants have a design capacity of 5000 megawatts but with current installed capacity of 3,585 MW.
The company is incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act as a private limited liability company with shareholding fully subscribed to by the Federal, state and Local Governments with a mandate to manage the power projects tagged ‘National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP)’.
The National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) was conceived in 2004 as a fast-track government funded initiative to stabilize Nigeria’s electricity supply system while the private-sector-led structure of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA) of 2005 took effect.
NIPP was originally designed around seven medium sized gas fired power stations in the gas producing states, and the critical transmission infrastructure needed to evacuate the added power into the national grid. A commitment to electrify host communities in the vicinity of the power stations and major substations gave rise to the distribution component of the project.
In August 2005, the National Council of State and the National Assembly approved an initial funding for NIPP from the excess crude savings account’ (ECSA) which statutorily belong to the Federal, State and Local Governments.
The Federal Government therefore incorporated the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited (NDPHC) as a limited liability company to serve as the legal vehicle to hold the NIPP assets using private sector-orientated best business practices.
