Resolving electricity tariff seen improving fortunes of power sector

Until Nigeria resolves tariff structure in the power sector, the spate of epileptic power supply would continue says Jude Abalaka, managing director of Tranos Contracting Limited, and a technology company providing services in the power sector.

“The distribution with old distribution network has to rebound, and I am speaking about the fact that even what we generate is not even enough. That is not even the problem, that is still somewhere behind it. Then we also have a lot of these companies, starting with the distribution companies, which see that basically the pricing structure in place does not benefit them enough to invest in solving the problem,” Abalaka said.

He attributed the situation to a catch-22 situation, where consumers wanted better power but distribution companies wanting more money.

“So we are just locked in a kind of stalemate on that and, personally, I think that until the issue of the economies of the industry is resolved, it is unlikely we will have a solution, because it is going to take a lot of investments to solve the power problem and I doubt any investor wants to put his money in at the moment because if you are going to invest in something, it has to be clear how you are going to recover your investment,” he said.

He explained that there was a need to make the investment environment better for investors to attract more of them to the power sector.

“So I think the first thing is to resolve the economy, because we saw what happened in the telecom sector. People came into the business, made sense of it and money was pouring in from all over the world,” he stated, adding that an improvement in power would have a dramatic impact on the economy”

He further stated that Nigeria had a lot of young population, which was strength to the country, saying that his company invest a lot in human capital and that they proffer solutions to their problems.

Isaac Anyaogu and Angel James