•Abuja, Lagos, Kwara, Oyo to get improved provide in 24 hours
• TCN rejects grid instability claims
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has countered the claims by the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO), and the Federal Ministry of Power that operational constraints on fuel transportation community was accountable for the latest decline in electrical energy era.
This is simply because the Minister of Power, Mr. Joseph Tegbe, yesterday promised that electrical energy provide to Abuja, Lagos, Kwara and Oyo states, which had been at present experiencing outages would enhance inside the subsequent 24 hours.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has additionally rejected claims by Ikeja Electric (IKEDC), attributing a number of Band A feeder outages to “grid instability” and assigning accountability to the transmission firm.
NNPCL’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Andy Odeh, mentioned in a press release yesterday that the fuel community operated by NNPC Gas Infrastructure Company Limited (NGIC), a subsidiary of the NNPC, remained obtainable to assist fuel deliveries to power-generating stations nationwide.
“NGIC’s operational records do not indicate transportation-related constraints within its network that explain the current decline in electricity generation,” Odeh mentioned.
NNPC’s clarification adopted a November 5 assertion by the NISO, which attributed the decrease energy era partly to restricted fuel availability and lowered water inflows into hydroelectric stations.
Specifically, the system operator mentioned the restricted availability of “gas has constrained the capacity of affected thermal generating stations to operate at their available levels, while reduced water inflows into reservoirs have impacted the generation capacity of hydroelectric power stations”.
Tegbe additionally attributed the electrical energy provide shortfall to deliberate upkeep on the Egbin Power Station in Lagos and constraints in fuel provide to some thermal energy stations, which had lowered the quantity of electrical energy obtainable on the nationwide grid.
“Grid operators have, therefore, implemented load shedding in some areas to manage the shortfall. Sabotage of key transmission lines has also restricted the use of alternative routes to supply some locations, especially Lagos,” the minister defined.
But the NNPC mentioned the provision of its fuel transportation infrastructure ought to be assessed individually from fuel manufacturing, industrial provide preparations, and precise deliveries to particular person energy crops.
The firm mentioned fuel manufacturing volumes had grown by about 10 p.c year-to-date in 2026, citing efforts to implement the federal authorities’s fuel improvement and monetisation agenda.
“Gas supply availability is therefore not a challenge as NNPC remains committed to supporting efforts to improve electricity generation through safe, reliable and efficient gas supply and transportation,” it mentioned.
The firm mentioned figuring out the reason for the facility shortfall required a broader evaluation of the gas-to-power worth chain.
According to the oil agency, the evaluate ought to cowl the provision and operational readiness of producing models, plant upkeep schedules, and precise fuel offtake, noting that these elements decide whether or not fuel provided to energy crops could be transformed into electrical energy.
“Gas production, commercial supply arrangements and actual deliveries to individual power plants must be assessed separately from the availability of transportation infrastructure,” the NNPC mentioned.
The firm referred to as for a coordinated evaluate of operational information by fuel suppliers, transporters, energy mills, and NISO to determine particular constraints and decide applicable interventions.
Abuja, Lagos, Kwara, Oyo to Get Improved Supply in 24 Hours
In an replace on the facility state of affairs, Tegbe mentioned he was conscious of the pressure the outages had positioned on households and companies in the 4 affected areas.
Tegbe mentioned his workforce was working to return the affected producing models to service in phases, with the primary models anticipated to return again on-line inside 48 to 72 hours, counting down from yesterday.
He mentioned the ministry was additionally working with operators to enhance fuel provide and speed up repairs to the broken infrastructure.
Tegbe additionally applauded residents of the affected states for their endurance.
“I thank everyone affected for their patience and will provide further updates as supply is gradually restored,” he said.
The present outages, which have lasted a number of days, have hit the 4 states, leaving many households and companies in prolonged blackout and forcing reliance on different energy sources.
In the areas impacted by the facility cuts, Discos had introduced load shedding schedules, with many Band A clients complaining of sharp drops in provide hours.
The state of affairs, the minister earlier mentioned, was compounded by lowered era from hydro stations resulting from low water ranges, fuel constraints to thermal stations, amongst others, which he pressured restricted wheeling to the facility distributors.
Meanwhile, the TCN has rejected claims by IKEDC attributing a number of Band A feeder outages to “grid instability”.
In a press release TCN issued yesterday, the transmission firm mentioned the attribution contained in IKEDC’s public discover of November 5 was “inaccurate and misleading.”
TCN mentioned by advantage of Section 67 of the Electricity Act, 2023, the willpower of the foundation reason for disturbances, shortfalls and interruptions on the nationwide grid falls completely inside the outlined features 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,” it mentioned.
The firm mentioned NISO had already clarified the place in its public assertion of November 5, attributing the present decline in energy era to constraints in fuel provide to thermal energy stations and lowered output from hydroelectric stations resulting from decrease reservoir inflows.
According to TCN, NISO defined that the event lowered obtainable era, which in flip lowered vitality allotted to Discos and led to fewer hours of provide and elevated load shedding throughout distribution networks.
“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,” it mentioned.
TCN mentioned information for all feeders supplying IKEDC confirmed the image painted by NISO. Of the interruptions recorded on November 1 and a pair of, it mentioned 68 per cent had been frequency-control load shedding arising from low era, 26 per cent had been resulting from IKEDC’s non-compliance with load allocation by the National Control Centre (NCC) of NISO, or to faults and works on IKEDC’s personal community, whereas the remaining 6 per cent had been TCN deliberate upkeep, switching or a line limitation.
“None of the recorded interruptions was a TCN equipment fault or trip,” it added.
Of the 46 interruptions recorded on the 33kV feeders named in IKEDC’s discover, TCN mentioned 29 had been frequency-control load shedding arising from low era and 14 had been recorded towards IKEDC – 9 for non-compliance with load allocation and 5 for faults or journeys by itself community.
According to the TCN, the opposite three had been scheduled for upkeep on the Ogba-Alimosho line on November 1.
TCN urged IKEDC and different Discos to “desist forthwith from making unfounded claims about the causes of supply shortfalls to their customers,” saying such claims misinformed clients, undermined public confidence and obscured the actual challenges to be resolved by the related stakeholders.
