Nigerian Breweries, varsities get permits to generate electricity

Amid the high cost of electricity and incessant power fluctuations, Nigerian Breweries Plc has got approval to generate captive power in its offices located in Abia, Oyo, and Enugu states.

Cumulatively, Nigerian Breweries is generating up to 41MW in the four stations.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission disclosed this in a report, saying the permits were granted in the third quarter of 2024.

Following the signing of the Electricity Act 2023, many companies appear to be leaving the national grid to generate their own power.

According to the NERC, captive power generation permits are issued to entities that intend to own and maintain power plants exclusively for their consumption. This means there is no sale of electricity generated from the plant to any third party.

The commission said it approved the grant of captive power generation permits to 11 applicants with a gross capacity of 63.36 megawatts.

Also, six Nigerian universities and the Nigerian Defence Academy were given permits to generate captive electricity.

The University of Abuja got a permit to generate 3MW; University of Calabar & Teaching Hospital, Cross River State is generating 7MW; University of Agriculture Micheal Okpara, Umetuke, Abia State, 3MW; University of Maiduguri & Teaching Hospital, Borno State, 12MW; Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta Main Campus, Ogun State, 3MW; and the Federal University Gashuwa, Yobe State, 1.50MW.

The Nigerian Defence Academy, a military university based in Kaduna got NERC’s nod to generate 2.50MW of electricity.

Last year, the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, disclosed that the Federal Government had approved electricity subsidies for tertiary education and health institutions to address their concerns following the removal of subsidies in areas categorised under Band A feeders.

After the Federal Government removed subsidies from customers in Band A and upgraded their daily electricity supply to a minimum of 20 hours daily, universities and public hospitals cried out that their bills had skyrocketed.

The College of Medicine of the University of Lagos and the Lagos University Teaching Hospital cried out over what they described as an outrageous electricity bill charged by the Eko Electricity Distribution Company.

The institutions said they were jointly presented with a bill of about N280m for May instead of the less than N100m they used to pay.

The monthly bill given to UNILAG jumped from N180m to N300m.

The Federal University of Technology, Akure had its bill raised from N20m to N60m by the Ibadan DisCo.

At the University of Benin, the tariff was hiked from N80m monthly to N250m.

The Vice-Chancellor of Babcock University, Ogun State, Prof. Ademola Tayo, said in July that the institution paid N300m as electricity tariff in May, lamenting that the high electricity tariff was a great threat to quality education in Nigeria.

Aside from the high cost of energy, many Nigerian institutions are also battling low supply and fluctuations coupled with repeated grid collapses.

With permits to generate captive power, Nigerian Breweries and academic institutions will have a stable power supply to run their daily activities.

Within the period under review, the commission certified seven Meter Service Providers, five-meter installer companies, and two-meter manufacturers.

The commission also issued 22 permits for Meter Asset Providers within the period even as it issued 50 orders to guide the activities of licensees.