Minister of Power Engr. Sale Mamman has said that while there is enough generation capacity and transmission capacity has improved, the problem remains with the distribution section.
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“Distribution is where the problem lay because of the commercial and technical losses. The target is by this year, we are going to achieve 7,000 megawatts, and by 2023, we will get 11,000 megawatts.
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“By the time Siemens finishes the expansion, the capacity will improve. For the generation, the installed capacity, for now, is 14,000 megawatts but the operational capacity is 4,500 megawatts and yet we are only distributing 3,700 megawatts and from that, the DisCos can only pay for 1,100 megawatts, so you can see the difference.”
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Minister Mamman said the ongoing expansion and reform will enable DisCos to become viable, noting that interventions being provided by the federal government were not sustainable.
“In 2018, the federal government gave N700bn just to close the gap between the GenCos and DisCos because GenCos will have to pay for gas. This is unsustainable and last year we collected N600bn to see a gap and start filling it,” the minister also said.
