Uche Cecil Izuora
As power generation companies remain incapacitated to service their debt, gas suppliers have warned that they may have no choice other than stop further supplies.
Joy Ogaji, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC), dropped the hint saying the suppliers are worried an estimated N3.3 trillion debt owed by generation companies (GenCos) while speaking during an interview with Fresh FM on Wednesday.
She said the electricity crisis in the country stems from the inability of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc to fully pay for power generated by GenCos since the sector’s privatisation.
Ogaji said the government currently owes generation companies about N6.8 trillion, with around 70 percent of the debt attributed to thermal power plants.
According to the CEO, the 70 percent thermal power plants’ debt amounted to N4.76 trillion.
Out of the N4.76 trillion, she said 70 per cent (about N3.3 trillion) is owed to gas suppliers by thermal plants.
“NBET is set up to buy power from GenCos and sell to distribution companies (DisCos). The aim is that as they buy power, they will pay in full, but since 2013 till today, they’ve never paid in full, so this debt is now N6.8 trillion,” she said.
“From 2015 to December 2024, the debt profile grew to N4 trillion. In each month of 2025, there is a shortfall of N200 billion, so if you calculate N200 billion times 12, that is N2.4 trillion, making the whole debt N6.4 trillion after December 2025.
“We’re already in March 2026. The debt grew to N6.6 trillion in January and N6.8 trillion in February. At the end of March, you need to add N200 billion again to make it N7 trillion.”
According to Ogaji said a significant portion of the outstanding debt is owed to gas suppliers because thermal power plants produce most of the electricity supplied to the national grid.
“The generation companies have hydros, and we have thermal power plants. The thermal power plants are the ones that use gas. The hydro plants use water, so they do not owe gas suppliers,” she said.
“On the grid, we have 30 power plants; out of that, about 30 percent are hydro now because Zungeru has added 700 MW, and there are other smaller hydro plants. So, the remaining 70 per cent comes from gas.
“Therefore, for every N100 the thermal plants invoice NBET, N70 belongs to the gas suppliers. So, if we go by that ratio, out of the N6.8 trillion that I am quoting, if we take out 70 per cent of that money that belongs to thermal plants.”
She attributed the worsening the current electricity shortages to the debt.
“Correct to say that the debt is the reason why we are in darkness,” Ogaji said.
She said gas producers are increasingly demanding upfront payment before supplying fuel to power plants.
“Gas is not available because the gas suppliers have told us that if we need gas, we need to put money on the ground to get gas in the pipe. We owed them a lot of money,” she said.
“The gas suppliers have really been very kind to us. They are the reason why the thermal plants are still generating power. But now, they have told us that if there’s no payment, there will be no gas for the thermal power plants.”
Ogaji said the inability of generation companies to receive payments has left them struggling to repay bank loans taken during the 2013 power sector privatisation.