Power company says N600bn gas debt hindering 2,000MW capacity

The Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) has revealed that its available 2,000-megawatt electricity generation capacity remains largely stranded due to a staggering N600 billion gas debt and other systemic constraints.

In a statement released by Adesanya Adejokun, the Technical Adviser on Media to the NDPHC Managing Director, Jennifer Adighije, the company lamented the inability to fully monetize its power generation, which has led to setbacks in operations across its National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) plants.

Adighije disclosed that despite the challenges, NDPHC has successfully restored five turbine units previously offline in Calabar, Omotosho, Sapele, and Ihovbor plants, adding 625 megawatts to the national grid.

She stressed that transmission bottlenecks, gas supply issues, and weak power offtake by distribution companies are among the key factors crippling the company’s performance and leaving much of its power capacity underutilized.

“Supply challenges, transmission constraints, as well as close to N600bn debt being owed the company by Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading and other bilateral entities are hindering the company’s operations NDPHC currently has a mechanically available generation capacity of about 2,000 MW that is significantly stranded due to transmission constraints, gas supply, and gas transportation limitations in addition to dwindling offtake by the distribution companies,” she stated.