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In what could be described as abrupt and shocking, in its recent release, the Transmission Company of Nigeria Plc (TCN) has demanded for an outright review of the current electricity tariff, ostensibly cost reflective, which will entail more payment by the end users of power.
The TCN's request was contained in an application filed to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) for an extraordinary tariff review, as a means of ensuring that generation companies (Gencos) are incentivized to provide sufficient spinning reserves and other ancillary services that are critical for managing the national grid.
The abrupt demand follows another total System Collapse on September 28 at 8:03pm, a few days ahead of the Nigeria’s 57th Independence Day anniversary.
The Commission explained that the move is to avert future system collapses on a sustainable basis, and solicited the understanding of all Nigerians in its efforts to provide the electricity industry with a world class national grid.
The Transmission Company is the only unit of the 18 successor companies unbundled from the defunct Power Holding Company (PHCN) that was not privatised alongside others, but placed under management contract.
Hitherto, Distribution Companies (Discos) had been at the fore of agitations for electricity tariff review and increase, while consumers are opposed to it due to the prevailing power outages.
A statement by the TCN General Manager on Public Affairs, Mrs. Ndidi Mbah,explained that reports obtained from stations and the sequence of events generated by the SCADA system indicated that the system collapse was triggered by the tripping off of Egbin Units ST4, ST6 and ST5 at 20:03:15, 20:03:32 and 20:03:34, respectively. She stressed that the incident caused the Nigerian electric power grid to lose generation completely before restoration commenced at 20:22Hrs.
The statement read in part: “A post mortem analysis of the event indicated that grid generation was curtailed (to about 4,262.7MW) prior to the inception of the disturbance due to capacity under-utilisation and the operational capability required to maintain grid stability had waned, leaving the system vulnerable to the extent that perturbations of this magnitude resulted in severe system frequency dip that culminated in system collapse.”
Mrs. Mbah therefore noted that the analysis clearly indicated that there was insufficient level of spinning reserve provided by grid-connected Gencos arising from low tariffs for providing ancillary services.
She further assured that TCN would strive to ensure that the stride attained recently in frequency control is sustained in line with world industry standards and codes.
Scripted by: Rostrum
Contact:- +234-8028608056, rostrummedia@gmail.com
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