Amid the growing concern over the liquidity crises in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry, the Managing Director/CEO of Kaduna Electric, Engineer Garba Haruna has appealed to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) to provide a level playing field to all participants in the nation’s electricity market.
He made the appeal when he received members of the House of Representative Committee on Power in kaduna on Saturday. He decried the present billing arrangement where distribution companies are forced to pay capacity charges for investment made by generation companies every month, an amount which is often higher than the cost of energy supplied and described the practice as unfair as it places unnecessary burden on the Discos.
“Distinguished members of the House of Committee on Power, it is pertinent to note that the monthly bill submitted to Distribution Companies by NBET consist of cost of energy supplied and capacity charges for capital investment made by the Gencos. Interestingly, the capacity charges are often even higher than the cost of energy which we cannot transfer to the customers. Your intervention in providing a level playing ground to all participants in the market is highly required”, he said.
Earlier, the Chairman of the House Committee on Power, Mr. Daniel Asuquo directed the Management of kaduna Electric to resolve and metered all pending issues of customers who participated in the now rested CAPMI scheme within six weeks.
Mr. Asuquo charged electricity consumers to note that “payment of electricity bills is an obligation that must be discharged at all time”.
