TCN Challenges IKEDC's Claims on Blackouts and Grid Issues

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has accused Ikeja Electric (IKEDC) of inaccurately blaming it for recent Band A outages, asserting that the blackouts were caused by low generation and issues within IKEDC's network. In a statement released on 5 November, TCN responded to IKEDC's public notice that attributed outages on 3 and 4 November to "grid instability." TCN described this claim as "inaccurate and misleading," emphasizing that identifying the root cause of grid disruptions is not the responsibility of distribution companies.

Citing Section 67 of the Electricity Act 2023, TCN stated that this responsibility lies with the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO), which had not found any fault with TCN. NISO clarified that the drop in generation was due to gas supply constraints and reduced hydropower output.

TCN provided data showing that 68 percent of interruptions on 1 and 2 November were due to frequency-control load shedding from low generation, with additional interruptions attributed to IKEDC's non-compliance and network faults. TCN urged IKEDC to stop making unfounded claims and recommended that customers rely on NISO for accurate updates.