Industry data from power generation companies have shown that despite the blackout witnessed in many parts of Nigeria last year, a monthly average of 2,248.5 megawatts of electricity was stranded and unutilized in the same year,
Checkout Magazine gathered on Tuesday that while the average available power generation capacity for the 12 months in 2021 was 6,336.52MW, the actual average generation put on the national grid for utilization during the period was 4,118.98MW.
This came as the Federal Government allocated N40bn in the 2022 budget to settle the electricity debts of its ministries, departments, and agencies.
Last week, power distribution companies said that the indebtedness of the Federal Government MDAs to Discos for unpaid electricity was more than N90bn.
The 2021 Generation Capacity Loss Data seen in Abuja showed that the country’s power sector recorded stranded electricity in all the 12 months of 2021.
The figures for stranded electricity in January, February, March, and April 2021 were 1,915.13MW, 1,634.87MW, 1,799.18MW, and 1,921.5MW respectively.
Stranded electricity figures of 1,944.59MW, 2,396.7MW, 2,421.38MW, and 2,909.55MW were recorded in May, June, July, and August 2021 respectively.
For September, October, November, and December, the quantum of stranded power in each of these months stood at 3,291.15MW, 2,570.58MW, 1,996.44MW, and 2,180.95MW respectively.
Power generation companies have often complained about the poor utilization of what they are capable of delivering on the grid.
The Executive Secretary, Association of Power Generation Companies, Joy Ogaji, had recently argued that Gencos was not dispatching at full capacity due to the poor utilization of what they produce.
