The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has refuted claims by the Benin Distribution Company (DisCo) that it is responsible for the power outages affecting certain regions within the DisCo’s service area.
In a statement on Wednesday, TCN spokesperson, Ndidi Mbah clarified that while maintenance is being conducted on some of its substations, none of these are linked to the Benin DisCo, contrary to the implications made.
Mbah explained that TCN planned to upgrade the second 30MVA power transformer in Ondo Substation to 60MVA capacity, but it has nothing to do with Benin DisCo.
“The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) wishes to state that the details in the public announcement by Benin DisCo dated August 13, 2024, concerning TCN’s planned maintenance that is scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday, August 15, 2024, is misleading and incorrect.
“It is a fact that TCN has scheduled maintenance slated for tomorrow, Thursday, August 15, 2024, from 10 am to 7 pm to enable TCN contractor to divert the incoming 132kV line to the newly installed T1 60MVA power transformer (upgraded from 30MVA) in Ondo 132kV Transmission Substation. This will allow TCN to upgrade the second 30MVA power transformer T2 to 60MVA capacity; increasing the substation’s capacity to 2x60MVA from 2x30MVA capacity.
“However, none of the feeders highlighted by Benin DisCo in their release is connected to Ondo Transmission Substation. Outage in the areas they mentioned therefore has nothing to do with TCN,” Mbah said.
Backstory
Benin DisCo had earlier informed its customers of a looming power outage in some of its service areas as a result of a substation upgrade by TCN.
The statement was released via its official X (formerly Twitter) account on Tuesday, appealing to its customers to bear with the situation.
The statement noted that there will be electricity outage in some areas as the upgrade is slated for August 15, 2024.
Meanwhile, TCN has debunked this claim, adding that while it is upgrading its substations, it will not affect Benin DisCo as the substations are not linked to the company’s service areas.
What you should know
Nigeria’s electricity sector continues to grapple with the challenges of a fragile national grid, usually leading to nationwide blackouts every other time.
As of June 2024, the grid has experienced a collapse four different times.
This contributed significantly to electricity disruption across the country, with businesses having to rely on self-servicing generators to run their activities.
In November 2013, the federal government privatised all power generation and 11 distribution companies, with the FG retaining the ownership of the transmission company. This was to improve efficiency in the sector.
However, since privatisation, the grid has continued to collapse amid efforts to reposition the power sector.
