The Niger Delta Power Holding Company has called for the settlement of more than N400bn owed to it by electricity market participants, including the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, saying the outstanding liabilities are affecting its operations.
The disclosure was made Wednesday by the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NDPHC, Jennifer Adighije, during an oversight visit to the company’s headquarters in Abuja by the House of Representatives Committee on Power, chaired by Hon. Victor Nwokolo.
In a statement signed by NDPHC’s Head of Corporate Communication & External Relations, Nazo Agim, Thursday, Adighije appealed to the committee to intervene in the outstanding debts owed to NDPHC by electricity market participants, including NBET, which she said had accumulated liabilities of more than N400bn.
She also sought the settlement of obligations arising from NDPHC’s assets recognised in the regulated asset base of the Transmission Company of Nigeria.
Adighije also appealed to the committee to intervene in outstanding debts owed to NDPHC by electricity market participants, including the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, which she said had accumulated liabilities of more than N400 billion.
“She said the company was also seeking the settlement of obligations arising from its assets recognised in the regulated asset base of the Transmission Company of Nigeria,” the statement disclosed.
The NDPHC boss identified transmission constraints, low tariffs, inadequate market settlements, gas supply challenges, unpaid debts and vandalism as major challenges affecting the company’s operations
According to her, the financial constraints were compounded by the company’s inability to fully utilise its available generation capacity.
She said NDPHC had more than 1,500 megawatts of mechanically available generation capacity but was allocated an hourly dispatch of about 500MW.
This, she explained, had resulted in significant suppressed and stranded capacity, costing the company more than N300bn. Adighije called for regulatory intervention to review the dispatch merit order and enable NDPHC to better utilise its available generating capacity.
The NDPHC boss said the company had also made progress in recovering debts from its cross-border bilateral customers. She disclosed that about $12m had been recovered from customers in Togo and other debtors out of an outstanding debt of more than $50m.
The NDPHC boss said the company also recovered several turbines across its power plants, which contributed about 470MW to the national grid. Adighije recalled that NDPHC had recovered 110 abandoned containers and 216 packages within her first 100 days in office, saving the company more than N30bn.