There seems no end in sight to incidences of crazy billing and power theft currently rocking the nation’s power sector, findings by **Daily Independent** revealed at the weekend.
This came as the Federal Government said it would require N77 billion to close the metering gap of 2.5 million in the country.
Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo disclosed this at the weekend, said until the amount is sourced, power theft and excess billings from distribution companies may persist.
A source at the Nigerian Electricity Regulating Commission (NERC) queried our correspondent in a chat on Saturday: How do we get this exorbitant amount when the government is neck-deep into how to raise money to compliment the revenue for the privatisation of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to settle the labourt force?”
Meanwhile, Prof Nebo says it was no longer possible for the government to attain 10,000 megawatts electricity generating capacity this year, as initially planned for December.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja, he blamed this on delays in some of the engineering works by contractors handling national independent power projects (NIPPs).
The Minister announced a shift in target date for achieving the 10,000mw to first quarter of 2014, adding that addressing the metering gap is the solution to incidences of power theft and excess billings from distribution companies.
He urged Nigerians to be patient with the government to see ongoing recovery works at the Kainji and Jebba dams, and NIPPs come to fruition, assuring that the NIPPs would add fresh capacity to the national power grid.
He maintained that Nigeria needed a smart grid to transmit all power generated to the distribution companies, which was why the Federal Government has contracted Manitoba Hydro International to manage the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN.
Nebo disclosed plans to build more dams for hydro power uses, to complement the existing hydro power stations in the country.
“Now, more than ever before Nigeria needs a robust super grid network which is estimated to cost $3.4 billion,” he said, noting that the facility is required to meet international standard in power transmission and distribution chain. Other renewable energy sources like solar, bio-mass which are off the super grid, he assured, will continuously be available for domestic uses.
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