https://www.businessdayonline.com/manufacturers-abandon-discos-private-power-suppliers/

Nigerian manufacturers are increasingly abandoning power distribution companies popularly called DisCos, for private companies that can provide 24-hour incremental and quality electricity at cheaper rates. Manufacturers say they are toeing this line on account of the poor quality of power supply they get from DisCos, which tend to disrupt production activities at factories across the country.

Already, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), through its recently formed MAN Power Development Company, has signed an agreement with Tower Energy Solution & Systems Limited for the supply of between 6 to 10 megawatts (MW) of electricity to Henry Carr Industrial Cluster, Ikeja, Lagos.

MAN is on the verge of agreeing with Negris Group for the supply of up to 80MW of electricity to Odogunyan in Ikorodu industrial cluster.

The organisation is also talking with solar power supply firms in norther Nigeria, where there is limited gas supply to enable clusters in Kaduna, Kano and other parts of the north to have incremental power at cheaper rates. Similarly, a negotiation is in the pipeline with Sahara Energy, Geogrid LighTec Limited and other companies for the supply of power to industrial clusters, according to Ibrahim Usman, chairman of MAN Power Development Company Limited.

"Right now, manufacturers would rather pay a little extra and get quality power," Usman said in Lagos.

"The particular case works in Lagos because there is gas. We have Tower that is already producing 35MW and it is ready to deploy more on incremental basis. If we are going to the north, where there is no gas, we will be talking of solar, biomass, wind or hydro. It is a case by case basis because what is happening in Lagos may not necessarily be what we need in Uyo, Aba, Kano, or Kaduna," he said.

Nigerian manufacturers are hard-hit by poor power supply, which gulps 40% of their expenditure. They spend N25 billion in 2014 and N59 billion in 2015 on power, including alternative sources such as USP and inverters, according to MAN. Small and medium manufacturers use diesel and petrol but large enterprises have gas plants and use Low-Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO) which is expensive.

Dangote Cement is installing a coal-fired plant, while Ashaka Cement is already on coal.

"The idea is to be able to put manufacturers together in clusters and arrange for power, which can be supplied through providers that will engage in power supply through hydro, solar, gas and will remove the cost of manufacturers getting involved in producing their own power," said Reginald Odia, chairman of the Economic Policy Committee of MAN and director of the MAN Power Development Company.

"You need to run your plants and those plants need energy," Odia added, after a presentation by Negris Group for the supply of up to 80MW to Odogunyan in the Ikorodu industrial cluster.

The Phase 1a of Negris Group's power supply will inject 10MW into Ikeja Disco's substation and targets 33MW double current grid within six months. The Phase 1b of the arrangement involves upgrading capacity by 2x35 MW to achieve 70 MW within 18 months, while the second phase will add more capacity to the turbines to hit 140 MW in 24 months.

Manufacturers will bear a capacity charge, which depends on the net dependable capacity of a power plant and contractual capacity. They will also bear a distribution change cost and a fuel charge based on the current gas price.

"For commercial rate, per square metre of gas is about $7.8, but we are pushing to get gas at a cheaper rate. Gas is still being charged in dollars, so charges here depend on the exchange rate. If gas is cheaper or charged in naira, cost of power will be less," said Sobanwa Kunle, general manager of Negris.

According to Wole Ayoola, president of Negris, the company was desirous of playing its own part to make Nigeria self-sufficient.

"Our power is relatively cheaper than self-generation. In self-generation you have to think about spare parts; you have to think about operation and general wear and tear and you have to replace equipment. But in this case, if you are a manufacturer that makes paper, you are not in the business of generating power but making paper. Rather than having a team of power engineers, in the long run if you have a number of people that come together and take the headache away from you and enable you focus on the ones that generate money for you," Ayoola said.

OAM4J, Mynd44, Lalasticlala

Idiotic Fashola. Suegbe lawyer forming engineer.......

#nonsensebullshit


*modified*
See fellow idiots defending crass ineptitude and corrupt politicians, same cretins that continue to lay to waste your childrens future. Y'all need to visit a head shrinker to cure you lot of your madness. The punk said he'd fix the moribund thing in six months, or so i seem to understand by his submission before he got the ministry and people including myself have the right to hold him to account based on that so again you all can bugger off and go vent your frustrated skulls someplace far....

And im #yoruba by the way for d crazed bigots talking ipob. Useless lot!

Best way to survive

This is smart and progressive instead of complaining.

Why can't everyone have solar on their roofs ?

till we in Nigeria learn to manage and maintain effectively how we consume electrical energy. there is always a tendency to spend these huge sums seek I g for alternative power supply. I remeber Dangote saying that the success of his investment in Nigeria is primarily based on sourcing a dedicated power generating plant for his establishments. It's not expensive as it seems and it clean and renewable most times.

Smart move on their part discos better get they act together before it's too late.

blackfase:
Idiotic Fashola. Suegbe lawyer-engineer... :/

What's Fashola got to do with your crooked and corrupt PDP uncles and Jona handing over power to cashless and incompetent DISCOS?

Do you even know the meaning of privatization?

You really should look in the mirror for suegbe.

#zombiespotted

deomelo:



What's Fashola got to do with your crooked and corrupt PDP uncles and Jona handing over power to cashless and incompetent DISCOS?

Do you even know the meaning of privatization?

You really should look in the mirror for suegbe.

slimfit1:
Why can't everyone have solar on their roofs ?

You think we are talking about charging of phones?
We are talking about heavy machineries here?

Same way it happened in Telecom industry. It's a gradual process. No matter how slow or cruel this Govt seem, most things will change for good before its expiration.

blackfase:


#zombiespotted

Funny when ignorant and unintelligent ipobitch zombie call other people zombie.

This is already happening at industrial clusters like Agbara in Ogun state as well. I know this from experience.

blackfase:


#zombiespotted

You should actually take a confident look into a mirror, and you will see a confident zombie right in front of you.
The former President out of political patronage sold DiScos to some highly incompetent fools like Emeka Offor of EEDC that has not add one single 33/11kv substation to the company since he assumed ownership.
You can't cheat natural course of event, you reap what you sow, we are only reaping from the foolishness of Jonathan in the sales of PHCN assets.
In good societies that works less on tribalism, Jonathan should actually be answering a lot of questions from the dock now.

I like this.

DISCO's had better fix up or run the risk of being put out of business.

This is actually a very good development. Decentralise and deregulate power supply and watch how the owners of the dead DISCOs would sit up.

Some oil producing states like Delta, Rivers and Akwa-Ibom who all have easy access to gas, I wonder why these states aren't creating industrial clusters which can assure investors of steady and cheap power supply.

simplycarro:


You should actually take a confident look into a mirror, and you will see a confident zombie right in front of you.
The former President out of political patronage sold DiScos to some highly incompetent fools like Emeka Offor of EEDC that has not add one single 33/11kv substation to the company since he assumed ownership.
You can't cheat natural course of event, you reap what you sow, we are only reaping from the foolishness of Jonathan in the sales of PHCN assets.
In good societies that works less on tribalism, Jonathan should actually be answering a lot of questions from the dock now.

Many of these internet trolls actually don't know anything beyond their sad and pathetic tribal, political and bigoted realities, they don't know anything, they are zero information consumers and they don't read or follow happenings in their own country.


They hear DISCO or anything about power and their ignorant, tribal and bigoted antennas kicks in to spew ignorant rubbish. They have no clue how we get here and who created the problem.


When GEJ and the PDPO was laying the ground work for this disaster and handing over power assets their their crooked and incompetent cronies with zero knowledge about power generation and operations, the same ignorant trolls were shouting GEJ till 2019, but know that the chicken is home to roost, they created their own responsible parties based on their own ignorance.

Grundig:
I like this.

DISCO's had better fix up or run the risk of being put out of business.

The DISCOs are dead weight and should be sidetracked.

Private power entities like Negris are stepping in to fill the void and eventually push the DISCOs to the side, we'll even see these private power operators moving into residential areas. Like say maybe pick up the whole of Ilupeju in Lagos, give them uninterrupted power supply and bill them directly.

It's just a matter of time.

Nice

Bb

Hmmmmm. Nice one. Hope they move to residential areas soon.

Check my signature for your quality customised Atm card flash drive.

the beauty of competition

who remembers nitel now

its dead and gone

the same fate awaits these discos if they don't buckle up

blackfase:
Idiotic Fashola. Suegbe lawyer forming engineer.......

#nonsensebullshit

Fashola isn't responsible for the iinefficiencies of the Discos.

Hmm

hmmm

obailala:
This is actually a very good development. Decentralise and deregulate power supply and watch how the owners of the dead DISCOs would sit up.

Some oil producing states like Delta, Rivers and Akwa-Ibom who all have easy access to gas, I wonder why these states aren't creating industrial clusters which can assure investors of steady and cheap power supply.

They are waiting for the FG to do it for them.

blackfase:
Idiotic Fashola. Suegbe lawyer forming engineer.......

#nonsensebullshit

how we wish your dad was as idiotic and as suegbe as Fashola. Yes, you would have gone far in life, but behold your father was wiser than wisdom, smarter than success. what a pity.

long overdue....let them rot in debt....ineffective pple

blackfase:
Idiotic Fashola. Suegbe lawyer forming engineer.......

#nonsensebullshit

Can you tell us what informed this your vituperation?

Are you aware that, it's that 'idiocy' in Fashola is bringing out this innovation?

blackfase:
Idiotic Fashola. Suegbe lawyer forming engineer.......

#nonsensebullshit

Can you tell us what informed this your vituperation?

Ok. What's Fashola 's work again