The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has faulted Ikeja Electric’s attribution of Band A outages to grid instability.
The transmission company said a public notice published by Ikeja Electric (IKEDC) on November 5, 2026, which attributed outages recorded on November 3 and 4 to grid instability and assigned responsibility to TCN, was inaccurate and misleading.
According to the TCN, determination of the root cause of disturbances on the national grid falls exclusively within the functions of the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO).
It mentioned Section 67 of the Electricity Act 2023, noting that IKEDC, like every other market participant, has no authority to make such determination.
In a statement, the TCN added that NISO has made no attribution linking the outages in IKEDC’s notice to TCN.
According to TCN, NISO blamed the current decline in power generation to constraints in gas supply to thermal stations and reduced output from hydro stations due to lower reservoir inflows.
It said NISO explained that the development reduced available generation, which in turn reduced energy allocated to DisCos and led to fewer hours of supply and increased load shedding.
It said the impact on each DisCo varies with available generation and its allocation.
It added that the shortfall in supply to IKEDC customers is a consequence of reduced generation and resulting allocation, not failure of TCN’s transmission network.
The company said it can only transmit energy made available to it and cannot transmit energy that is not generated.
On the records, TCN said data for all feeders supplying IKEDC confirm the national picture described by NISO.
It said of interruptions recorded on November 1 and 2, 68 per cent were frequency-control load shedding arising from low generation.
It said a further 26 per cent were due to IKEDC’s non-compliance with load allocation by the National Control Centre of NISO, or to faults and works on IKEDC’s own network.
The remaining six per cent were TCN planned maintenance, switching or line limitation, adding that none was a TCN equipment fault or trip.
The company stated that the feeders named in IKEDC’s notice also do not support the claim.
It said of 46 interruptions recorded on the 33kV feeders named, 29 were frequency-control load shedding arising from low generation, and 14 were recorded against IKEDC.
It also said, of the 14, nine were for non-compliance with load allocation and five for faults or trips on its own network.
The other three, it said, were scheduled TCN maintenance on the Ogba-Alimosho line on November 1.
The company cited an example on November 2, when the Rack Centre feeder was interrupted by a cable fault on IKEDC’s network, which its own crew repaired.
It noted that IKEDC’s notice itself assigns several of the feeders, including MTN, Iju Water Works and Rack Centre, to IKEDC for 33kV faults.
TCN said IKEDC’s position is out of step with the true state of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry.
It said attributing shortfalls caused by generation constraints to TCN misinforms customers and undermines public confidence.
The company advised IKEDC and other DisCos to stop making unfounded claims about causes of supply shortfalls.
