Even as Nigeria struggles with incessant blackouts, about 250 manufacturers and academic institutions have abandoned their respective power distribution companies to generate their own electricity.
The organisations, many of whom are bulk electricity users, shunned the national grid to generate reliable electricity for themselves.
This is coming amid the high cost of electricity, fuel price hikes, incessant grid collapses, and line trippings.
Findings from different data sources, particularly from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, showed that the firms have generated up to 6,500 megawatts of electricity altogether.
This is higher than the country’s power generation which is currently hovering around 4,500MW and 5,000MW.
It was learned that the request for captive power generation increased since 2023, especially after President Bola Tinubu signed the Electricity Act 2023
Captive power generation permits are issued to entities that intend to own and maintain power plants exclusively for their consumption. That means the entities are not allowed to sell electricity generated from the plant to any third party.
One of the biggest captive power generators is the Dangote Group.
Dangote Industries Limited has generated about 1,500MW of electricity, according to Aliko Dangote. The Dangote refinery alone has a 435MW power plant that can meet the total power requirement of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company.
“We don’t put pressure on the grid. We produce about 1,500 megawatts of power for self-consumption,” Aliko Dangote said last year at the Afreximbank Annual Meetings and AfriCaribbean Trade & Investment Forum in Nassau, The Bahamas.
Some of the other companies include MTN Nigeria, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Shell, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, Kaduna refinery, Warri refinery, Lafarge Cement Wapco Nigeria Plc, Procter and Gamble Nigeria Limited, and Bank of Industry Ltd.
Others include Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Dangote Cement Plc, Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise Limited, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Chevron Nigeria Limited, Nestle Nigeria Plc, Total Upstream Nigeria Limited, Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria, De-United Foods Industries Limited, Sagamu Steel Nigeria Limited, British American Tobacco Nigeria Limited, Unilever Nigeria Plc, Total E & P Nigeria Limited, and Mikano International Limited.
They also include Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Airtel Networks Limited, Nogap Power Development Company Limited, Shell Exploration & Production Company Limited, Esso Exploration & Production Nigeria Limited (Usan OML 138), Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals Limited, Cadbury Nigeria Plc, Honeywell Flour Mills, Atlantic International Limited Refinery & Petrochemical Limited, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, Okamu Oil Palm Company, PZ Cusson Nig Plc, among others.
Among the universities with captive power are the University of Lagos, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Federal University Ndufu-Alike IKWO, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Obafemi Awolowo University, Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Bayero University, Kano, and University of Benin.
Others include University of Abuja, University of Calabar & Teaching Hospital, Cross River State, University of Agriculture Micheal Okpara, Umetuke, Abia State, University of Maiduguri & Teaching Hospital, Borno State, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta Main Campus, Ogun State, and the Federal University Gashuwa, Yobe State.
