Anambra-owned FirstPower Electricity Distribution Company has appealed to customers to bear with it over the poor power supply in the state, saying the problem is not its fault.

FpEDC made the appeal in a statement on Thursday. It said the drop in supply was due to nationwide generation challenges, not operational failure.

FpEDC said electricity distribution companies operated only at the final stage of the electricity value chain and had no role in generating power or determining how much electricity was transmitted to states.

According to the statement, electricity distributed in Anambra is generated elsewhere in the country and transmitted through the national grid before reaching the interface stations that supply the state.

“Whenever national electricity generation declines, the amount allocated to every distribution company across Nigeria automatically drops.

“Nigeria has recently been experiencing a major reduction in electricity generation due to a severe shortage of natural gas supply to thermal power plants, which produce the bulk of electricity on Nigeria’s national grid.

“This was worsened by the disruption caused by an explosion on the Escravos-Lagos gas pipeline in December last year, an incident that affected the operations of several gas-fired power plants,” the energy firm said.

It said another problem facing operators in the sector was the huge debts owed to generation companies within the electricity market.

It said the liabilities, estimated at about N6 trillion, had significantly weakened power producers’ ability to procure adequate gas to operate their power plants optimally.

“The ongoing Israel/U.S.-Iran War has caused immediate scarcity of and a spike in prices of petroleum products, and this is further complicating the issue in Nigeria’s energy sector.

“Thermal plants rely heavily on natural gas to generate electricity. The shortage has forced several generating units to shut down or operate below their installed capacity,” the company stated.

On the planned protest by customers in Anambra, FpEDC said it recognised their constitutional right to express their feelings but appealed to them to understand the company’s challenges.

FpEDC said protests directed at distribution companies may not yield the desired results, as the root causes of the electricity shortage lie in generation, which is beyond the distribution company’s control.

(NAN)