The Chief Executive Officer of Egbin Power Plc, Mokhtar Bounour, says the firm is losing huge revenue to the current gas shortage, threatening power generation nationwide.
Bounour said this on Thursday while addressing newsmen after receiving the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, at the Egbin Power Plant in Ikorodu, Lagos.
The CEO noted that the power generating company has not been able to run the plant to full capacity due to low gas supply.
According to him, the plant that can generate 1,000MW now generates an average of 400MW, blaming nonavailability of gas.
On the closed-door meeting with the minister, Bounour said the management had highlighted all the challenges being faced here, saying “They promised to solve them gradually so we can see improvement in the near future”.
He said, “One of the major challenges we are facing right now is gas availability.
“We don’t have enough gas to run the full capacity of the plant, and we are losing a lot of revenue.
“This is a 40-year hold plant, we are investing a lot; it requires a lot of effort, a lot of investments to keep the unit running and safe; and if you don’t generate, you will have a big unbalance.
“The quantity of gas allocated to us is not enough to run the six units. We have received calls from the gas suppliers that they have some technical challenges to sort out. We hope we can receive a good quantity of gas as soon as possible.”
He added that the Federal Government is owing the GenCo to the tune of N1.4tn.
“The second challenge is the cumulative debts. We are having some liquidity issues that we all hope will be solved soon.
“The Federal Government is owing us N1.4tn, but the minister has promised that starting from April, we will start seeing improvements, and we are looking forward to it. If the debts are not paid, the business can’t be sustained,” he stated.