The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has hinted of its plans to sell the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Plc (KEDC), the sixth largest power distribution utility over a $130 million indebtedness.
The Federal Government, through its Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), also owns 40% equity in the firm.
A news report from Reuters indicated that the planned sale of the power firm was coming less than two years after the some lenders who took over the management of the company failed to turn it around and make it profitable.
The DisCo is one of 18 successor companies that emerged following the privatisation of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria in 2013 and is distributing electricity in four northern states.
The NERC, in a public notice on Monday, disclosed that the DisCo owed N110 billion ($130 million), to companies including the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trader and power generation companies (GenCos).
The industry regulator maintained that it now considered the company a ‘failing licensee’, thereby allowing it to dissolve its board using a law passed last year.
NERC hinted that appointed an administrator and special directors to manage Kaduna Electric in the interim and sell its assets to the highest bidder.
Available statistics shows that Nigeria is producing a fraction of its installed power generation capacity of 12,500 megawatts, thereby making electricity supply to millions of households and businesses difficult.
It would be recalled that KEDC was taken over by African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and Fidelity Bank in July 2022 but they have struggled to improve its financial performance.
