He said the Ministry of Petroleum has plans to build critical pipelines to transport gas that will be used to power plants, adding that that this move will result in an increase of mega watts by 2,000 within 15 months, Vanguard reports.
Fashola said: “By far the most complex challenge is the problem of tariff. It is complex because it is more in the hands of citizens than in the hands of Government.
“The role of Government is to set the tariff and in doing so, Government has committed to what is called a Multi-Year Tariff Order. This was done in order to attract investors to the market; otherwise we will not have achieved the privatization if the price of the product is not attractive to the investors.
“The tariff is the price of producing power. It covers cost of generation, gas purchase, transportation, transformers, staff costs and so on, disaggregated and charged per kilowatt/hour to make the business of power profitable.
“What Government did was to spread it over a number of years so that the impact is not felt at once but over a periodic incremental process. I know that it has been a contentious matter, but I make this fervent appeal to consumers to give us the benefit of doubt, to forbear and accept it.”
The minister noted that the amount of available power is more than what the transmission network can support adding that there is need to increase the transmission capacity.
“We have identified a total of 142 (One Hundred and forty-two) projects of which 45 are at 50 percent level of completion and about 22 (twenty-two) can be completed within a year.
“The budget estimates are known and we intend to aggressively pursue completion to increase the carrying capacity from the generating companies, GENCOs to the distribution companies, DISCOs,” he said.
In a related development, Aliko Dangote, the president of Dangote Group of Companies, has promised to build a 500 megawatt power plant for Kano, Katsina, Jigawa and Kaduna states.
Dangote was quoted as saying that power plant is a intentional attempt to support local economy and wealth creation.
