TCN Accuses Ikeja Electric of Misleading Customers Over Band A Outages

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has accused Ikeja Electric of misleading customers by blaming recent power outages on grid instability, insisting that reduced electricity generation was largely responsible.

The dispute followed a November 5 notice in which Ikeja Electric apologised to customers on some Band A feeders for failing to provide the minimum 20 hours of daily electricity supply on November 3 and 4.

The distribution company attributed some of the outages to grid instability and identified TCN as responsible.

However, TCN, in a statement signed by its management on November 6, described the attribution as “inaccurate and misleading.”

The transmission company said the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) was responsible for determining the causes of disturbances and interruptions on the national grid under Section 67 of the Electricity Act 2023.

TCN said NISO had already explained that the decline in power generation resulted from gas supply shortages affecting thermal power stations and reduced output from hydroelectric plants due to lower water inflows into reservoirs.

The operator said the situation had reduced electricity allocations to distribution companies, resulting in fewer supply hours and increased load shedding.

TCN added that its records showed that 68 per cent of interruptions across Ikeja Electric's feeders on November 1 and 2 resulted from load shedding caused by low generation.

It attributed another 26 per cent to Ikeja Electric's failure to comply with power allocation instructions or faults on its network, while six per cent involved TCN's planned maintenance and switching activities.

“None of the recorded interruptions was a TCN equipment fault or trip,” the company said.

On the 46 interruptions recorded on the 33-kilovolt feeders listed by Ikeja Electric, TCN said 29 resulted from low generation, while 14 were linked to the distribution company's network or failure to follow its allocation.

The company also cited a cable fault on Ikeja Electric's Rack Centre feeder, which it said was repaired by the distribution company's crew.

TCN urged electricity distributors to stop making what it called “unfounded claims” and rely on verified information from NISO.

It added that it remained committed to transmitting all available electricity safely and reliably while working with other industry operators to improve supply.