Senate committee on power lauds Transcorp, Geregu for meeting privatisation performance targets

The Senate Committee on Power has lauded both Transcorp Power and Geregu Power for meeting the performance targets set for privatised power generation companies in the country.

This was during the just-concluded three-day investigative hearing on the power sector recovery plan organised by the committee where the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) reported that only the two companies hit the target set for generation companies.

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The committee chairman, Gabriel Suswam, while commending the companies for living up to the expectations, said: “Out of the six generation companies privatised, only two of them are performing. We have listened to presentations from the government’s side and the operators and we have seen that there is no alignment anywhere and that is the problem. Once there is an alignment and proper coordination, there will be sanity and progress.”

While making his presentation, Director General of BPE, Alex Okoh, said Transcorp and Geregu stood out among the generation companies as the remaining four privatised companies failed to meet their targets.

Okoh started his presentation by reeling out data on the sector’s journey prior to the return to democracy in1999 and subsequent performances of the firms.

According to him, only 17 out of the 79 generation units were operational and average daily generation nationwide was 1,750MW as of then. Investment in the sector trickled in but peaked in 2001 with over $400 million. But sadly, there was no investment funding for the sector for seven years between 1989 and 1995.

The BPE boss revealed that the major challenges of power generation companies ranged from liquidity to inadequate gas supply, weak transmission infrastructure and foreign exchange procurement.

Lauding Transcorp Power, he said despite many challenges, the company and Geregu Power were able to meet the respective minimum performance targets set for them in 2013, while the other companies could not, adding that overall, the GenCos had increased the available capacity by 78 per cent which is 22 per cent below their collective targets.

Transcorp Power surpassed the five-year performance agreement target (670mw) set by the BPE at the handover of Ughelli Power by achieving 680.83MW. By 2024, it expects to generate 2500mwthrough the acquisition of Brownfield Thermal Projects, the expansion of the existing TPL plant and greenfield renewable energy projects which, all together, would add up to 25 per cent of the power generated within the country.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE