The outgoing chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Sam Amadi has revealed that the country needs 6,000 megawatts (mw) of electricity to significantly end the power outages.
Amadi who made the revelation during a public hearing on the activities of NERC and Distribution Companies (DISCOs), also said that 55 per cent of consumers remain un-metered.
He attributed this to legacy issues that have resulted in consumers being charged through estimated billing.
He disclosed that cloning and bypassing of meters remain a major challenge, particularly in some parts of the country and this results in loss of revenue for DISCOs.
Responding to reports that the regulatory body is soft on DISCOs for infractions and inefficiencies particularly in metering, Amadi agreed, but noted that the agency was not quick to wield the big stick in order to build investor confidence in the sector.
He also attributed it to the fact that the DISCOs were still experiencing several challenges.
He said, “It is in the interest of consumers that we help DISCOs and generating companies to survive, but from the beginning of this year, we have been penalising. Recently, we asked Abuja DISCO to pay N18 million to the family of a child who was electrocuted, and they did that.”
Amadi added that the Abuja DISCO was also mandated to compensate 32,000 consumers with about N50 million due to over-billing.
He explained further that the DISCOs are experiencing several challenges.
“You talk about tariff, but what about gas? The telecommunications industry has the advantage of technological innovations. Electricity is a conservative technology, we cannot do without gas, even if we build solar everywhere,” he said.
He added that DISCOs had to deal with weak infrastructure.