The management of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) on Friday, November 6, 2026, debunked claims by Ikeja Electric (IE) attributing recent power outages on its Band A feeders to national grid instability.
​In a press statement issued at 11:30 AM from the TCN headquarters in Maitama, Abuja, the General Manager of Corporate Communications, Ms. Ndidi Mbah, clarified that the electricity supply disruptions reported by Ikeja Electric on November 3 and November 4, 2026, were caused by reduced overall power generation, gas supply constraints, and distribution network issues rather than any equipment failure or grid breakdown on TCN’s transmission infrastructure. ​
The official rebuttal follows a public notice released by Ikeja Electric on Thursday, November 5, 2026, in which the distribution company attributed widespread power cuts across several of its premium Band A feeders in Lagos to grid instability. ​Addressing the claim directly, Ms. Mbah emphasized that the transmission utility can only deliver energy made available to it from power plants.
She explained that systemic generation constraints, stemming from reduced gas supply to thermal stations and lower reservoir inflows at hydroelectric dams, forced the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) to initiate nationwide frequency-control load shedding across all distribution companies. ​
A detailed analysis of the operational records for the 33kV feeders named in Ikeja Electric’s notice reveals a distinct narrative behind the 46 recorded feeder interruptions. The bulk of these disruptions, accounting for 29 instances, or 63 percent, resulted directly from NISO-directed load shedding triggered by the nationwide generation deficits.
Another 14 interruptions, representing 30 percent of the total, were directly traceable to Ikeja Electric’s own local operations, comprising nine cases of non-compliance with NISO load allocations and five instances of technical faults or equipment trips on the DisCo’s internal distribution lines.
The remaining three interruptions, making up just seven percent, were tied to planned TCN maintenance on the Ogba–Alimosho transmission line executed on November 1. ​TCN specifically highlighted an incident on November 2, where the Rack Centre 33kV feeder suffered an outage due to an underground cable fault on Ikeja Electric’s local network, which was later repaired by the DisCo’s technical team.
Furthermore, TCN noted that Ikeja Electric’s own customer advisories attributed several affected lines, including the MTN, Iju Water Works, and Rack Centre feeders, to internal distribution network faults rather than grid failure. ​
Warning that misattributing supply shortages to transmission instability distorts public perception and obscures structural issues within the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry, TCN urged Ikeja Electric and other DisCos to rely on verified technical reports from NISO before issuing public statements.
Electricity consumers were advised to monitor official NISO communication channels for accurate updates on grid operations.
