Again, DisCos at loggerheads with TCN over transmission infrastructure

Inefficiency causes 5,300 interruptions, 100 systems collapse in 6yrs
Electricity distribution companies under the umbrella of Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), yesterday, insisted that the inefficiency in electricity transmission infrastructure in the country remain a critical challenge to the level of electricity being distributed across the country.

While Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) is controlled by the Federal Government, the 10 distribution companies have been accused of lack of investment leading to rejection of generated electricity and thereby causing epileptic power supply across the country.

General Manager, Corporate Communications, Of TCN, Ndidi Mba had accused the DisCos of misinterpreting the load analysis, that the DisCos have not been off-taking the quantity of power allocated to them under the Multi-Year Tariff Order, leading to increased unutilised power.

But statistics released yesterday by the DisCos indicated inefficiencies in transmission infrastructure lead to 5,311 interface disruptions in one DisCo in the first 18 days of this month.

The DisCos noted that though TCN had received about $1.6 billion multilateral funding, agency caused over 100 electricity grid collapses since the sector was privatised,

Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, ANED Sunday Oduntan in a statement said DisCos had not rejected energy load as TCN claimed, adding that TCN falsified data that conflicts the data presented to DisCos by the National Control Centre (NCC) which is under TCN and coordinate power allocation to DisCos.

“It raises questions as to the veracity and accuracy of TCN’s response, in terms of the energy that it delivered to the DisCos. How could TCN’s supposed sent-out or delivered energy exceed that recorded by its control centre, the singular source for such information,” he said.

According to the utility distributors, the $1.6 billion federal government-guaranteed and multilateral funds and grants that TCN has gotten is unavailable to the privatised Generation Companies (GenCos) and DisCos.

The group said: “The Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) continues to deal with, largely, a TCN that finds it difficult to move away from a PHCN-legacy of uncleared equipment containers, analogue-based and informal communications systems and frequent explosions and burnings of transmission sub-stations and transformers.”

“Over a hundred partial and total system collapses recorded since privatisation and nine total systems collapse so far this year; multiple transmission interface deficiencies with 5,311 TCN interface interruptions in one DisCo franchise area, from September 1 – 18, 2019.”

“Rather than eliminate all of the bottlenecks of the transmission grid, TCN, vociferously and continuously, continues to crow about its computer simulated increase in capacity, ignoring the fact that it, currently, only averages a daily 3,700MW of wheeled or transmitted energy to the DisCos, out of its tested transmission capacity of 5,500 MW.”