The controversy between the Transmission Company of Nigeria and electricity distribution companies over power rejection by electricity distribution companies (Discos) rages on with former disputing the figure pushed out by the Discos.
TCN accused the electricity distribution companies represented by Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), of deliberately misinterpreting simple load analysis.
“They twisted the National Grid Data and statistics, subtly inferring that there is no load rejection by Discos and that TCN has not been able to deliver the volume of power demanded daily by each Disco,” the TCN claimed.
To further clarify the issue, the TCN attached a table from the system operator that indicates what was supplied each Disco on 22 of August 2019 and what they took and the difference between what was taken and what is left unutilised.
Ndidi Mbah, general manager, Public Affairs, said that it was important to clarify that Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO) allocation is a percentage of electricity on the grid that is made available to all the Discos. Discos day ahead nomination is what the Discos say they can off-take out of the MYTO allocation for the next day, while actual consumption is what they eventually take from the available MYTO allocation at the TCN/Disco interface points.
She said for instance, Kano Disco, on the 22nd of August 2019 nominated to take 310.60MW while the MYTO allocation to Kano Disco was 359.38MW.
“For Kano Disco, even though it nominated to take 310.60MW, it was able to actually off-take only 154.17MW, leaving a total of 205.21MW representing 57.10percent of MYTO allocation to it unutilized,” she said.
According to her, “On the same day, Kaduna Disco on the other hand, requested 280.00MW while MYTO allocation to them was 359.38MW, but the Disco actually collected only 166.52MW from TCN substations, leaving 192.86MW equivalent to 53.66percent of MYTO allocation unutilised.”
She further said that TCN was working assiduously to put in place a robust transmission grid. “We would be the first to say that we have not solved all our problems, but we are certainly doing all we can to consistently grow the grid as well as our capacity to move more power to electricity distribution companies nationwide.
But the 11 electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) are insisting that the System Operator (SO), a section of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), misinterprets energy readings by miscalculating drop in electricity demand from customers at night as load rejection.
Sunday Oduntan, spokesperson, Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), denied reports of DisCos rejecting about 7,000 megawatts (mw) electricity in August.
“What has happened is the inaccurate rendering or misinterpretation by the System Operator (SO) of DisCos’ minimum and maximum load readings. The SO in its recent allegation of load rejection against DisCos wrongly projected the load drop/demand, during off-peak hours (night times) as load rejection,” he said.
Olusola Bello
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