Crisis as TCN increases power transmission, rejected by Discos

NIGERIA RE CORDED AN increase in electricity transmission in December 2018 as data obtained from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) showed that a total of 125,346.4 megawatts (MW) were transmitted in the period under review.

However, this increase did not translate to increased power consumption for Nigerians, as the 11 electricity distribution companies (DisCos) distributed 95,495 megawatts to their various customers, rejecting 29,851 megawatts.

According to the daily statistics of TCN operations from Nigerian Electricity System Operator (SO), a section of the TCN, this translates to an increase of 8,686.6 megawatts harvested from the ongoing Nigerian Independent Power Projects (NIPP) to the national grid as against 116,659.8 megawatts.

However, TCN was not the only one pointing fingers, as the electricity generation companies (GenCos) also accused the DisCos of arbitrarily rejecting power which was causing a huge burden for them as they pay for what they wish to take daily.

Accusing the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) of complicity, Joy Ogaji Executive Secretary of the Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC), said the new NERC rule meant that GenCos can only be paid for what the system could take and not what GenCos are willing to sell.

In 2015, NERC, in preparing for the Transition Electricity Market (TEM), came up with the new capacity definition entrenched in the enabling TEM Supplementary Order No. NERC/15/0011, which limited the volume of electricity they could put on the grid and sell.

She further explained that the Discos would continue to determine the quantity of power to be distributed to consumers and not the quantity the Gencos would make available for sale.

In defense of the DisCos, Those people that are going about saying Discos are rejecting load, I want to confirm to you today that it is true that we sometimes reject load not all the time and I will tell you the kind of load that we reject Sunday Oduntan, spokesman for the DisCos and Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, Association of Nigerian Electricity Distribution Companies (ANED) explained that the issue of load rejection was majorly as a result of transmission constraints and the resolve of the TCN to transmit electricity to areas where such quantum are not required.

“Those people that are going about saying DisCos are rejecting load, I want to confirm to you today that it is true that we sometimes reject load not all the time and I will tell you the kind of load that we reject,” he said.

He also affirmed that every Discos has a right to decide the area where it requires electricity for its consumers but noted that because of transmission bottlenecks, such is not respected.

The TCN said the national peak demand forecast stood at 19,100.00 megawatts, while the installed available capacity was 11,165.40 megawatts.