The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has cautioned the 11 Distribution Companies (DisCos) for deliberating isolating some 33 kilovolts (kV) feeders to limit energy loads, thereby denying customers of electricity services.
The NERC monitoring reports for July 2020 obtained from NERC by Daily Trust showed that 159 units of 132/33kV substations that interface between the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and the 11 DisCos were monitored.
The substations have 816 active 33kV feeders. These feeders either connect to DisCos’ injection substations or directly feed customers on 33/0.400kV level.
Giving its verdict, NERC cautioned the DisCos “Against deliberate isolation of some section of 33kV feeders to limit the loading of the feeders and denying customers of electricity services.”
It also cautioned them to, “Stop the deliberate refusal to clear faults on some 33kV feeders within the eight hours timeline stipulated in the Reporting Compliance Regulation.”
NERC also directed DisCos to identify where there are capacity limitations and request TCN to prioritise them in its short-term projects.
It advised the DisCos to also improve on clearing vegetation especially in this rainy season to improve reliability of the feeders.
Specifically, it directed Enugu DisCo to improve on both availability and loading on the feeders that it monitored. NERC also asked Port Harcourt DisCo to explain why all the feeders experienced prolonged outages.
For TCN, the regulator said it failed to report a major incident that resulted in restricting power supply to Apapa Road in Lagos. “This is a violation of the Grid Code and Reporting Compliance Regulations,” NERC said in the report.
The power sector regulator reports breakdown from July 7 to 26, showed that there were feeders across the DisCos that were completely low in delivering power supply to the customers around the vicinity.
An instance was that of Port Harcourt DisCo, where NERC report said the availability and loading on the monitored feeders remain poor.
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