The Minister of Power, Works & Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola has urged the state governments to set up audit teams to verify about N63 billion electricity debts owed by them and their local governments.
The minister made the call during the 3rd National Council on Power (NACOP) held at the Crest Hotel in Jos on Thursday.
Fashola also called on the states and local government to ascertain the quantum of those debts and develop payment plans which can then be budgeted over time.
He said, “The estimated debts owed by the ministries, departments and agencies to Discos is to be about N90 billion as claimed by the Discos, and only about N27 billion of that debt has been verified being owed by the Federal Government, the rest (about N63bn) was owed by the either states or local governments.”
“The impact of inefficient power felt most at the municipal level where the states are actually in control,” he said.
Fashola refuted the claim that Federal government didn’t allow the state governments to establish power plants.
“I want them to know while I was a governor we built seven power plants, federal government didn’t stop us," he said.
Fashola said if the 36 state governments do 36mw each, they will add 1,260mw to the national grid and energy 252,000 households as a megawatt supplies 200 homes.
On calls to cancel the power sector privatisaion, Fashola said: "There have been comments about how effective privatization has been in the power sector and some people have called for its cancellation which I disagree with."
Fashola said to cancel the privatisation, the federal government will have to refund the proceeds in dollars to the investors at the prevailing foreign exchange rate saying most of it was used to pay the severance packages of PHCN worker.
He said a solution to the sector issues was the Power Sector Recovery Plan (PSRP) he introduced noting that it was yielding results as electricity generation on September 12 rose to 7,001 megawatts (mw), transmission at 6,700mw and distribution at 4,600mw capacity.
Meanwhile the host of the power council and governor of Plateau state, Mr Simon Bako Lalong unveiled the state’s policy and strategy on renewable energy with the target of supplying at least 10% of the renewable energy ratio in the national energy mix.
In his address he said, "We are in full support of the national power goal of 30:30:30 being pursued by Nigeria towards not just improving power supply, but doing so with emphasis on increasing the contribution of renewables in the national energy mix as we join the world to combat and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change."
The governor urged the federal government to resume and complete work at the numerous rural electrification project sites all over the state that were abandoned for long.