Abuja – The Managing Director of Ibom Power Limited, Dr Victor Udoh, said the price of electricity was critical to the success of power generating firms in the country.
Udoh said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday.
NAN reports that Ibom Power Limited – an Electricity Generation Company – is owned by the Akwa Ibom State Government.
“I believe this is part of the reasons why Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Company is considering a review of the price to encourage the distribution companies to set prudent tariffs.
“It is the distribution companies that interface with the consumers, thus they should introduce cost reflective tariffs.
“Once the tariff is right and the distribution companies collect the revenue, they will be able to pay us (generation companies) through Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc’’, he said.
He said Gov. Udom Emmanuel of Akwa-Ibom had directed him to re-position the corporation as a business venture.
According to him, the company has set clear performance goals, with its employees, fully involved.
Udo assured the company would survive and generate enough revenue to be self-sufficient without relying on the state government.
He explained that Ibom Power has several potential investors that are willing to invest in it.
He also said the corporation had sufficient gas to run its plant “because the previous government of Gov. Godswill Akpabio bought large quantities of gas to run the plant.”
According to him, seven energy companies have invested in gas processing plants in parts of the state.
He also told NAN that the Ibom Power had established an apprenticeship /internship programme, where people go through a rigorous selection interview for training.
Udo said many investors were being attracted to the state due to improved power supply.
He added that this was in line with the state government’s policy objective of industrialising the state.
He told NAN that the plant recently obtained license to increase its generation from 190mw to 685mw.
“We will go for another embedded generation license to fast track development in the state’’, he said.
Udo listed inability of power distribution companies to evacuate and pay for power supplied, weak infrastructure, inadequate finance and shortage of staff as factors hindering the operations of energy industry. (NAN)
