Issues and Challenges in the Nigerian Electricity Industry: Case of Benin Electricity Distribution Company

Benin Electricity Distribution Company covers four states, viz: Edo, Delta, Ondo and Ekiti with its headquarters in Benin City. It presently has eighteen districts. This paper addresses and proffers solutions to some of the major issues and challenges in the Nigerian electricity industry considering the Benin electricity distribution company in the South West zone of Nigeria. The status of transmission, distribution and commercial activities in this zone were analyzed. Recommendations were made to improve or focus on the remedies which would help solve the erratic power supply in the region in particular, and in the country in general, if these measures could be extended to other geopolitical electricity companies.


Introduction
Due to population growth and subsequent increased demand for higher efficiency and reliable electricity supply, power systems are being forced to operate at almost full capacity (Happ. H., 1994, andIllic M. et al, 1997). The electric utility industry is probably the largest and the most complex in the world (Silva E. Mesa, et al, 1998 andPark Y., et al, 1998). The complexity of a power system is directly proportional to the number of buses which it serves.
In Nigeria, the electricity industry is in the process of deregulation and it is proposed that the old National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) now Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) which had a whole responsibility of generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, would be unbundled into six generating companies, eleven distribution companies and just one transmission company (PHCN annual report, 2009(PHCN annual report, -2010. These companies need to be result driven and profitable to the investors. Thus, each of them must be able to account for the amount of energy it draws or supplies to its clients. This paper presents and proffers solutions to some of the issues and challenges in one of the distribution companies named Benin electricity Distribution Company in the South West zone of Nigeria. The Benin zone covers four states which are Edo, Delta, Ondo and Ekiti. Also, there are eighteen districts in this zone. The way forward to solving some of the highlighted major issues and challenges in this zone were also suggested.

Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) Areas of Operation
This paper is limited to issues and challenges in the BEDC as specified in the Nigerian map in Fig.1. Figure 1 shows the four states of operation in the zone which comprises eighteen districts.

BEDC Network Data
The total installed injection capacity is 1,255.31MVA, while the total installed distribution capacity is 1,564.4MVA. The peak load demand is 560MW on the average load allocation of 403MW. The average monthly energy received from grid is 220 MWH in the four states and eighteen districts.

Status of Distribution Network and Commercial Activities
The status of the distribution network and commercial activities are summarized in Table 2.

Network Expansion and Revenue Improvement
In the last few months there has been installation and commissioning of eight injection substations in the zone. Also, there has been installation of and commissioning of thirty eight distribution transformers of various ratings with combined capacity of 110 MVA as follows: Edo state is136, Delta state is152, ), Ondo state is 40, while Ekiti state is 52.
The constructed network facilities are 36.3 km of 33kV overhead lines and 1.35 km of 33kV underground network, and 74.0km of 11kV overhead and 12.2 km of 11kV underground network.
The number of metered customers grew from 212,216 in December 2010 to 449,294 in early this year. Hence the metering gap needs to be closed. The average monthly revenue moved from N 1.023bn in 2010 to a present value of N 1.45bn monthly by early this year. This is about 18.52% increase.
The average daily supply availability in hours recorded in the zone is given in Table 3.

Issues and Challenges
Some of the major issues and challenges in the distribution zone under study particular and the other distribution zones in the country are given as follows: • 33kV line transverse difficult terrain is thick having mangrove vegetation; flooding and swampy areas with their peculiar line trace problems. • Many 33kV feeders, 11kV feeders are fully loaded • 1,183 number of distribution transformers and 51 number injection transformers are overloaded • The metering gap that exists now is a big issue • The present tariff structure does not make for efficient running of the distribution system • Inability of customers to pay their electricity bills as at when due, particularly government institutions • The issue of contract or casual staff is also there as they constitute a significant proportion of the workforce • Vandalisation of PHCN equipment and lines • Inadequate funding for the electricity business • Asaba is the only state capital still on 33kV supply from Onitsha. The NIPP 132/33kV substation is very slow.

Transmission Substation Challenges
The following are the transmission challenges in the studied zone: 7.1.1 Okpella 132/33kV TS The 15MVA 132/33kV transformer is grossly overloaded. The substation should be upgraded to 60MVA, 132/33kV TS 7.1.2 Irrua 132/33kV TS: There is poor voltage profile at the tail end of 33kV feeders due to overloaded power transformers and long lines. Also, there is load limitation due to undersized conductor between Benin and Irrua. The 300MVA transformer at Irrua substation should be upgraded to a 60MVA to accommodate more loads. The undersized conductor between Benin and Irrua should be upgraded to improve power delivery to Irrua TS.

Effurun 132/33kV TS:
The substation was commissioned in the early 70s. Virtually all the 33kV switchgears and terminal equipments are now obsolete and cannot guarantee stable supply. This transmission substation requires major rehabilitation works and equipment upgrade.

Conclusions and Recommendations
The major issues and challenges in the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) comprising two states in the Nigeria south-south (Edo and Delta), and two states in the west (Ondo and Ekiti) has been investigated in this paper. The major issues amongst others are overloading of transformers, inadequate funding, and vandalisation of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) equipments. These shortcomings are also experience by other power distribution companies in other geopolitical zones of Nigeria. Some valuable recommendations to restore the issues and challenges in the BEDC in particular and other distribution companies in general may be; improving the tariff structure, encouragement of customers to pay bill by using pre-paid meters, increase the number of distribution transformers and transmission substations to avoiding overloading, upgrading or reconstruction of 132kV lines in the zone to avoid load shedding, etc.