The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has announced immediate plans to sell five power generation plants to investors under the National Integrated Power Project.

It has thus called on prospective investors to express interest in purchasing 100 per cent shareholding in any of the five GenCos.

It said this in a document signed by its Director-General, Mr Alex Okoh, which was made available to journalists.

This, it said, was in continuation of the ongoing reforms of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry and consistent with the Nigerian Electric Power Policy and Electric Power Sector Reform (EPSR) Act, 2005.

Already, the BPE said the Board of Directors of Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) and the National Council on Privatisation had approved the sale of the five companies through a competitive bidding process.

The in-service generating plants located in Ogun, Ondo, Kogi, Edo and Cross River states are Olorunsogo Generation Company Ltd with gross installed capacity of 754 megawatts and Omotosho Generation Ltd with 513MW.

Others are Geregu Generation Company Ltd with 506 MW; Benin (Ihovbor) Generation Company Ltd with 507 MW, and Calabar Generation Ltd with 634MW.

The Bureau asked prospective investors to submit separate Expressions of Interest (EoI) for each generation company.

The notice read in part, “Each bidder must be an experienced power generation company that owns and/or operates utility size power plants.

“In case of a consortium, at least one of the consortium members must be an experienced power generation company (the ‘Technical Partner’).

“The technical partner shall be responsible for providing operation, maintenance and management services under a long-term agreement.”

Meanwhile, President of the Nigeria Consumer Protection Network, Kunle Olubiyo, has said the 11 Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) cannot do without the N120 billion Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) metering intervention.

He said the CBN’s gesture was a welcome development.

He spoke with journalists on Sunday, saying, “The CBN intervention in DisCos is a welcome development. If the consumers’ transformers break down, the majority of the DisCos will be helpless.”

According to him, the DisCos cannot provide the resources to procure equipment, such as new transformers, nor can they refurbish the old ones.

He attributed the situation to the cash constraints among the energy distributing firms.

Olubiyo said, “They have not been able to effectively pull out funds to invest in procurement, repair or replacement of transformers.

“If your community has an issue and writes to any of the DisCos, they will be helpless.”

Olubiyo said the DisCos are expected to provide obligors to access the fund that is in an escrow account in the CBN.

With this, the government can prevent the power firms from diverting the funds.

Olubiyo said, “They (DisCos) don’t have money to invest in the sector, and the issue of meters is germane.

“The Federal Government now decided to come in to provide the funding and their management were asked to provide what is called an obligor. It is an undertaking, obligation, irreversible standing order.

“Each of the DisCos, if they are given the money, may divert them into frivolous things. The CBN has escrowed the account.”

The CBN is investing about N120billion in the DisCos and has reportedly disbursed about N3.6 billion for procurement of prepaid metres to stabilise the billing system in public electricity consumption in Nigeria.