As Nigerians endure several weeks of blackout, power generation companies have accused the distribution companies of deliberately rejecting electricity load allocations, resulting in heavy financial losses to the sector. In an interview with The PUNCH, the GenCos said that though there are gas shortages resulting in reduced power generation from thermal plants, DisCos are also rejecting the little being generated by the GenCos. However, the DisCos declared that they could only pick up power transmitted to areas where they could sell it and make money. The Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Power Generation Companies, Joy Ogaji, told our correspondent that there were times the system operator asked GenCos to reduce their outputs because the DisCos were rejecting load. Asked if the thermal plants are getting gas from their suppliers, she replied, “DisCos are not taking load; hence, there is high frequency.” Ogaji confirmed that the gas situation was not the only problem responsible for the current low power supply, arguing that the DisCos’ load rejection contributed to the current outages.

Punch