The Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) has lost 3,880Mega Watts (MW) to gas constraint, it was learnt yesterday.
The Nigerian Electricity System Operator (SO) yesterday said that it sent out 57,256.89 Mega Watts per Hour (MWH) which was also 2,385.70MW .
In its system performance posted on its website, the SO noted that the lowest generation from the Electricity Generation Companies (GENCOs) was 2,251.80MW, while the peak generation was 2,797.60MW.
The loss of gas following the attack on the Escravos tank farm main electricity feed pipeline reduced gas supply from 2,385.70MW on Wednesday to 2,351MW yesterday.
Prior to the attack, the NESI had already posted on its daily report of Wednesday that the power sector lost 3,880MWs to gas constraint.
It said in its daily summary that “the reported gas constraint was 3,880MW,” adding that it also recorded 380MW water management constraint .
The NESI noted that it recorded 105MW line constraint and “the power sector lost the estimated equivalent of N2, 095, 000, 00 on May 25 2016 due to constraint.”
The sector had maintained an average of about 4,000MW till February when the vandals started attacking the gas pipelines .
According to a source who disclosed the sector performance to our correspondent, the data has been very dismal, declining an average of about 2,000MW in May.
She said: “We were averaging 4,000 in January and it got down by half in four months and I can directly link that crash with vandalism.”
The source further said:”Right now ,our transmission capacity is very low and we are talking about 3,000MW to 4,000MW. At peak, what we generate and send out successfully is 5,000MW. So at a best case scenario, it is 5,000MW but right now there is no gas. “
It was learnt that only 30 per cent of the power produced is being paid for.
The source lamented that “there is no enough money to pay for even the small power we are using.
Gas producers are saying they will give gas to someone who could pay for it and not to those owing us 70 per cent.”
