NBET Can Now Access N701bn Power Fund

• NBET Can Now Access N701bn Power Fund

The N701bn approved by the Federal Government to support power generation companies financially can now be accessed by the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has said.

For about two months after the fund was approved, the power generation companies complained that they could not access it from the NBET, as they claimed that they were not aware of how it was to be disbursed.

But while speaking as a guest on a television programmers monitored by our correspondent in Abuja on Wednesday, Fashola stated that the bulk electricity trader now had access to the fund and would follow stipulated procedures in disbursing it.

On whether the N701bn had been handed over to the NBET, the minister replied, “It is not with the NBET. There is a facility to the NBET that the CBN is arranging such that whatever differential from what the Discos should pay and what they actually pay, the NBET can take from that amount and pay the Gencos, which are actually producing power.”

When probed further to state if the NBET had been given access to the approved N701bn, Fashola said, “Yes they have access to it.”

The minister also stated that aside the Gencos, the power distribution companies were in dire need of funds but noted that they lacked the capacity to borrow and that this was why many of them had found it difficult to upgrade their facilities, a development that was responsible for load rejection by the Discos.