By AGATHA N UJU, Correspondent, Abuja
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has refuted a report by the Ikeja Electric (IKEDC) blaming “grid instability” for outages that affected several Band A feeder and assigned to TCN as the responsible party.
Ikeja Electric (IKEDC) made the claim in a notice on November 5 2026, following the outages recorded on November 3rd and 4th 2026.
However, the TCN dismissed the claim and stated clearly that this attribution was inaccurate and misleading.
The TCN has also urged IKEDC and all other DisCos to desist forthwith from making unfounded claims about the causes of supply shortfalls to their customers.
DisCos should communicate based on verified information from NISO, the body responsible for the operation of the grid.
TCN also urged electricity customers to refer to NISO’s official platforms for accurate information on the state of the NESI.
TCN in a statement on Friday, containing its rebuttal also extended sympathises with customers affected by the reduced hours of supply. It remains committed to transmitting all available energy safely, reliably and efficiently within the prevailing operational constraints, and to working with NISO, generation companies and DisCos to improve the situation.
The Company maintained that its reasons are based on the following:
Root-cause determination is not the mandate of a DisCo.
By virtue of Section 67 of the Electricity Act 2023, the determination of the root cause of disturbances, shortfalls and interruptions on the national grid falls exclusively within the defined functions of the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO). IKEDC, like every other market participant, has no authority to make such determinations, and NISO has made none attributing the outages in IKEDC’s notice to TCN.
NISO has already stated the true position.
In its public clarification of 5 November 2026, NISO attributed the current decline in power generation to constraints in gas supply to thermal power stations and reduced output from hydroelectric stations due to lower reservoir inflows. NISO explained that this reduced available generation, which in turn reduced the energy allocated to DisCos and led to fewer hours of supply and increased load shedding across distribution networks. The impact on each DisCo varies with available generation and its allocation.
The facts are inconsistent with the “grid instability” claim.
The shortfall in supply to IKEDC’s customers is a consequence of reduced generation and the resulting allocation, not of any failure of TCN’s transmission network. TCN can only transmit the energy made available to it and cannot transmit energy that is not generated.
The records for all feeders supplying IKEDC confirm the national picture NISO described. Of the interruptions recorded on 1 and 2 November, 68% were frequency-control load-shedding arising from low generation. A further 26% were due to IKEDC’s non-compliance with load allocation by the National Control Centre (NCC) of NISO, or to faults and works on IKEDC’s own network. The remaining 6% were TCN planned maintenance, switching or a line limitation. None of the recorded interruptions was a TCN equipment fault or trip.
The feeders named in IKEDC’s notice do not support the claim either. Of the 46 interruptions recorded on the 33kV feeders named in the notice, 29 were frequency-control load-shedding arising from low generation, and 14 were recorded against IKEDC: 9 for non-compliance with load allocation and 5 for faults or trips on its own network. The other 3 were scheduled TCN maintenance on the Ogba–Alimosho line on 1 November.
On 2 November, for example, the Rack Centre feeder was interrupted by a cable fault on IKEDC’s network, which its own crew repaired. IKEDC’s notice itself assigns several of these feeders, including MTN, Iju Water Works and Rack Centre, to IKEDC (“IE”) for 33kV faults.
IKEDC’s position is therefore out of step with the true state of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry. Attributing shortfalls caused by generation constraints to TCN misinforms customers, undermines public confidence and obscures the real challenges that all stakeholders must work together to resolve.
