The Roundtable of Electricity
Distribution Companies (Discos) yesterday
urged the Federal Government to complete the
payment of the Power Holding Company
(PHCN) severance package for disengaged staff
before the August 21, 2013 date set for the
completion of payment from the investors.
Following the National Council on Privatisation
(NCP) dateline for the privatisation of the
Discos, the investors are expected to pay the
balance of 75 per cent for the purchase of the
entity on August 21.
But the Disco Roundtable, yesterday told the
Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo that
lenders are insisting on verifying the evidence
of the payments before lending them fund to
complete the outstanding 75 per cent
payment.
Chairman of the Roundtable, Dr. Ransome
Owan, said: “It is a condition precedent that
the Discos would be handed over free from all
legacy liabilities. Our lenders are mindful of
this and are reluctant to approve loans and
condition draw down. Therefore, it is vital that
full payment obligations to PHCN employees be
finalised before the Long Stop Date of August
21, 2013. Lenders expect evidence of these
payments before we can draw down on funds
to complete our payments.”
Besides, the Discos sought the Ministry’s
assistance in the release of the subsidy
contained in the Multi-Year Tariff Order
(MYTO) model for each of the Discos.
Owan also asked the Minister to ensure
adequate funding to the Transmition Company
of Nigeria (TCN) to evacuate power produced
for delivery to Disco to avoid stranded
investment and little benefit to consumers.
He added that the Ministry should provide
“extended five-10 years special tax holidays for
electricity distribution companies akin to the
Telecom startup assistance to mitigate tariff
increases and high cost.”
The Roundtable asked the Ministry to consider
extending the Long Stop Date to September
21st, 2013 to allow for the full satisfaction of
all Condition Precedent items by the
government.
Speaking on the 75 percent payment, the
Minister assured the Discos that the Federal
Government would do all in its capacity to
complete the payment by the end of August.
He said: “You have given us some tasks; on one
hand you are asking us to meet up with all the
conditions precedent by 21st of August, and on
the other hand, you are telling us that while
we meet up with our own, you are not going to
be able to meet up with your own. We will do
whatever we can, but there is no way we can
ensure full payment by the end of August.”
Nebo revealed that from the proceeds of the
National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP),
$1.6billion has been set aside for the
improvement of the TCN.
“Parts of the proceeds from the sale of the
NIPP projects, as much as $1.6 billion, is been
delegated to the improvement of TCN to give
us a well deserved transmission network and
that should not be your problem now,” he
said.
He assured that the Ministry would ensure that
it settled the PHCN employees in the
Generation Companies this week, adding that
government would commence the payment of
the staff in the DIscos.
He said: “ We understand that you are
supposed to inherit companies that are indeed
free from all legacies liabilities and we are
working on that. We also want to assure you
that at the rate that these payments are being
made to staff of the various PHCN successor
companies that you are acquiring, by the end
of this week, almost all the GENCOs would
have been paid, and then, we begin with the
DISCOs.”
He said the Ministry has decided to hold the
stakeholders’meeting that the Discos demanded
for in the next few days.
His words: “There are obvious reasons that we
have chosen to settle the GENCOs and the
PHCN headquarters, and then move on to the
distribution companies. I will not delve into
this, until the stakeholders meeting which we
have already decided to hold within the next
couple of days.
“With regard to the transition electricity
market, three conditions precedent that you
mentioned, metering of the grid and
constitution of a dispute resolution panel are
receiving attention. Be rest assured that we not
oblivious of these things.”
He said the Ministry is aware of the challenges
highlighted by the Roundtable and had since
moved to tackle them.
He accepted that the Discos were at their
infancy and would be encouraged to grow
through the provision of an enabling
environment.
“I would like to share with you that the Federal
Ministry of Power is fully aligned with your
dream to light up Nigeria.
0 100000:
Post a Comment