Nigerians now spend less on generators–Fashola

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, yesterday, claimed that Nigerians are now spending less money on fuel and diesel for their private generators.
Fashola, who spoke in Lafia, Nasarawa State, at the January 2018 edition of the monthly power sector operators’ meeting, also noted that based on the available reports, Nigerians were equally being conscious of their power consumption.
The Minister attributed the development to the increase in the power supply in the country and commended all the stakeholders for the feat.
“I will like to thank all of you for your contributions towards these milestones. The reason I thank you is because you are impacting the lives of Nigerians, you are saving them money and changing their lifestyles for the better.
“They tell me that their consumption of diesel and petrol to run generators for power has reduced and the hours they run their generators have gradually reduced. This is the result of incremental power and we must get more of it.
“They also tell me that they are now monitoring how they use power and are turning off appliances that are not needed. Although, this is meant to save costs, it also conserves energy, reduces waste and supports incremental power,” he added.
Fashola, however, disclosed that the country currently has 2000 megawatts of electricity that is idle because it cannot be distributed.
He said that power is not being utilised because manufacturers have not shown interest in making use of it.
“I will like to start this my remarks by highlighting the progress and milestones on our journey for incremental power which reassure us that we are on the right path and inspire us to continue with more belief.
“Those milestones are represented by: generated power has gone up to 7,000MW in 2017 from 3,000MW in May 2015, transmission capacity at 6,900MW in 2017 from about 5,000MW in May 2015. Peak distribution now averaging 5,000MW in 2017 from 2,690MW in 2015.
“We are also putting together a policy position to help expand the distribution network of the Discos and use this to distribute the 2,000MW that is currently available but cannot be distributed.
“I also use the opportunity to call out to manufacturers to let us know where they are, how much power they need, and how we can connect you because we have 2000MW of undistributed power.”