TCN, Kaduna Electric clash over cause of Jos power reduction

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has disputed Kaduna Electric’s explanation for the recent reduction in electricity supply across its franchise area, saying its transmission network supplying Jos has remained fully operational.

The dispute followed a statement by Kaduna Electric attributing part of the reduction in supply to a fault on the 330kV Jos transmission line, alongside an outage at the Shiroro Generating Station.

But TCN, in a statement issued on Thursday, said there was no transmission fault responsible for the reduced supply and accused the distribution company of presenting inaccurate information to the public.

According to TCN, the only incident involving the Jos-Lafia 330kV Line 2 occurred at about 3:30am on August 23, when its circuit breaker was deliberately opened to control voltage and maintain stability on the national grid.

The company said the circuit breaker was restored at 11:59pm on August 24 and that the line had remained in service since then.

TCN therefore maintained that all 330kV transmission lines connected to Jos were functioning and carrying bulk electricity.

“There has been no outage or disruption of bulk electricity transmission on any 330kV line supplying Jos attributable to TCN since that restoration,” the company said.

Kaduna Electric had earlier said its customers were experiencing reduced supply because of lower electricity allocation. It identified the outage of a generating unit at Shiroro and the reported Jos transmission line fault among the factors affecting the amount of power available to it.

The distribution company said the situation had resulted in Shiroro supplying Jos and adjoining areas and disclosed that it received a total allocation of 104MW on August 25.

Of the allocation, 54MW came through the Mando 330kV Transmission Station, while 50MW was supplied through the Birnin-Kebbi axis, according to Kaduna Electric.

The company said it was engaging with TCN on how to distribute the available power while efforts continued to improve supply.

However, TCN urged electricity distribution companies to establish the facts with the transmission operator before attributing supply challenges to faults on its network.

It warned that inaccurate claims could create unnecessary anxiety among electricity consumers.

TCN subsequently assured residents of Jos and neighbouring communities that its transmission infrastructure serving the area remained operational and that it was committed to maintaining reliable bulk electricity supply to distribution companies across the country.