As electricity tariffs continue to rise and the power supply remains unreliable, Nigerian Breweries has secured the permit to generate captive power for its offices in Abia, Oyo, and Enugu states.
This brings it up to 41MW that Nigerian Breweries is generating across its stations.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission’s third-quarter 2024 report shows that the permit was granted in the third quarter of 2024.
The Captive Power Generation (CPG) Permit is issued to companies or institutions to set up and operate power plants that will cater to their own electricity consumption alone, without sale to third parties.
This permit is backed by the 2023 Electricity Act.
The PUNCH reports that since the signing of the Act in 2023, several institutions seem to be moving to start self-generating their power.
According to NERC, ten other applicants, including six universities and the Nigerian Defence Academy, were also granted Captive Power Generation permits.
Together, the eleven institutions have a gross capacity of 63.36MW.
The University of Calabar and its Teaching Hospital, Cross Rivers, generate 7MW, while the University of Maiduguri & Teaching Hospital, Borno State, generates 12MW. The University of Abuja, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta Main Campus, Ogun State, and University of Agriculture Micheal Okpara, Abia State, each generate 3 MegaWatts.
The Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, generates 2.50MW, and Federal University Gashuwa, Yobe State, generates 1.50MW.
After the removal of electricity subsidies for band A consumers and the subsequent increase in tariff, Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu announced the retention of subsidies for tertiary education and health institutions.
This would ensure that their electricity bills stayed low, while they received a minimum 20 hours power supply daily.
Despite this move from the government, these institutions cried out that they have continued to receive outrageous bills from the electricity distribution companies.
University of Lagos (UNILAG) raised an alarm that its monthly bill surged from N180 million to N300 million in one move.
The UNILAG College of Medicine and the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) also complained that their bill went from N100 million to N280 million in May 2024.
The Federal University of Technology, Akure, saw its bill triple, going from N20 million to N60 million, while the University of Benin had its bill increased from N80 million to N250 million monthly.
Aba Power Electric also started the year with a more than 100% increase in electricity tariffs, throwing its customers into confusion.
In related news, Nigeria’s minister for power had expressed concerns over industries and institutions leaving the national grid to generate captive power.
Adebayo Adelabu had noted that using captive power, where they have to operate and maintain their own plants, was more expensive in the long term than remaining on the grid.
