Uche Cecil Izuora
Gas supply challenges from Heirs Energies, operator of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPL) joint venture with Heirs Energies on the Oil Mining Lease (OML) 17 at Owaza in Ukwa West Local Government Area (LGA) of Abia State, has crippled operations of Geometric Power.
Geometric Power, Nigeria’s foremost integrated electricity group, reportedly suffered its first blackout in 60 days.
The blackout according to Edise Ekong, the Senior Brand and Communication Manager of Aba Power Electricity Company Ltd, the distribution subsidiary of the group, was as a result of gas supply hitches.
Ekong, in a statement, attributed the power failure to a lack of gas supply from the Geometric Power business partner, Heirs Energies, operator of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPL) joint venture with Heirs Energies on the Oil Mining Lease (OML) 17 at Owaza in Ukwa West Local Government Area (LGA) of Abia State.
“We are sorry that our customers in nine of the 17 LGAs in Abia, where we serve faithfully to both local and international acclaim, have been without light since 4.33 am because of what Heirs Energies calls a facility trip”, Ekong stated.
“We are working relentlessly with our gas suppliers to restore electricity to the Aba Ring-fenced Area”.
On why Geometric Power is not receiving power from the national grid as a backup as it does anytime there has been a gas shortage, the communications manager explained that the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has just completed a new substation dedicated to his firm, but added that it has yet to be commissioned.
The TCN engineers have been testing the new substation because the construction has been completed, he added.
“Our engineers who have been with them for several hours are expecting the commissioning to take place anytime from now because of the urgency of the situation in Aba and the environs which play a major role in the Nigerian economy”.
Aba is a leader in domestic manufacturing in Nigeria, as it hosts both indigenous and multinational firms.
Meanwhile, experts have been lauding Aba Power, Nigeria’s 12 electricity distribution company (DisCo), for being the first firm in Nigeria to supply constant and quality power for two months.
“This is an important record”, declared Cliff Eneh, a former engineer with Texas Power and Light Company in Dallas, Texas in the United States, before joining the defunct National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) where he retired as a senior engineer and branch manager.
“I am confident that Geometric Power would have made electricity supply to its customers constant for years if not for the gas shortage and the TCN bureaucracy as a government enterprise”, he told our correspondent on phone this morning.
“I was amazed at not only the sophistication of the engineering and technical facilities when I visited Geometric Power a few months ago, but also the dedication of the highly accomplished workforce”.
Another electricity consultant, Dike Ejike, shared Engineer Eneh’s observation in an interview this morning.
Ejike, a mechanical engineer, told journalists that “I am not aware of any power generation company in the country that has supplied electricity without interruption for a month except the 188MW Aba Integrated Power Project promoted by Geometric Power.
“Geometric Power’s record should serve as a wakeup call to all Gencos, though the authorities have to ensure that there is sufficient gas for the power companies, as 73 per cent of electricity in Nigeria is gas-derived”.