Weeks of widespread power outages in Nigeria have intensified scrutiny of the country’s electricity sector, as power generation companies accuse distribution firms of deliberately rejecting allocated electricity loads, which has resulted in significant financial losses.
In an interview, the GenCos stated that while gas shortages have reduced output from thermal plants, DisCos are also refusing the limited electricity that is being generated, according to The PUNCH.
However, the DisCos stated that they can only accept electricity delivered to areas where they can sell it profitably.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Power Generation Companies,
Joy Ogaji, said that there have been instances when the system operator instructed GenCos to reduce their output because DisCos were refusing the allocated load.
When asked whether the thermal plants were receiving gas from their suppliers, Ogaji said, “DisCos are not taking load; hence, there is high frequency.” She confirmed that gas shortages were not the sole reason for the current low power supply, noting that load rejection by DisCos has significantly contributed to ongoing outages.
Ogaji revealed that in January, average power generation was 4,541 megawatts, while 2,985MW of that remained unutilized due to rejection by DisCos. In February, average generation fell to 4,218MW, with 3,274MW left unpicked.
She stated that Nigeria’s 30 power plants have a combined installed capacity of 15,500 megawatts.
However, GenCos can only supply 7,000MW, and the transmission company along with DisCos are able to offtake just 4,000MW, resulting in billions of naira in losses for power producers.
She added, “We have 30 power plants that are grid-connected. The 30 are on the grid. All of them put together have an installed capacity of 15,500MW. Out of the 15,500MW, because of the huge debt owed to the GenCos, the GenCos can only make 7,000MW available. Out of the 7,000MW they are making available, the DisCos and transmission can take just between 4,000MW and 4,500MW since 2013 till now.”
According to Ogaji, power generation remains critically low due to limited transmission and distribution capacity. She dismissed claims that the transmission company can handle 8,000MW and DisCos can distribute 6,000MW, challenging both the Transmission Company of Nigeria and the distribution firms to substantiate the figures being reported in the media.
However, operators within the power distribution sector, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on public comments, denied responsibility for load rejection.
They explained that DisCos refuse electricity mainly because of an inefficient transmission system.
“Between the GenCos and the DisCos, is there no transmission? And if you are the DisCo and I’m the transmission, don’t you have the right to tell me where you want your load to be taken to? If I dump it where you don’t want it, will you accept it?
“You want your load in Magboro, but I could not move it there; on my way from Ibadan, I decided to dump it at Sagamu Interchange. Will you accept that? No, you won’t! That’s the same analogy,” an operator said.
Another DisCo official argued that it would be “foolish” for any businessman to reject an electricity load that could generate revenue.
” But if a transporter dumps my load midway and I don’t have the capacity to wheel it myself, you don’t expect me to pay for that. We cannot be saying the same thing, repeating the same argument of 12 years ago now. This is 2026. We should be talking about progress.
” Remember that DisCos are business people. We also want to sell our products. We want to make money. How can I reject loads that will give me money? There is a difference between load rejection and load dumping. She is talking about load dumping, but making it look like load rejection. They are two different things.
“Load dumping is when you go and dump the load where the DisCos do not want it and where they cannot even collect it.
” They should take it to where we can make use of it. The end users are waiting. My customers want light. My job is to provide them with electricity. So load dumping is not a good thing. We do not engage in load rejection, at least not now. Not when we need electricity, but we will reject the one that is dumped, not the one that is brought to us when we agree that this is where we want it,” the operator stated.
The DisCos rejected the notion that they should supply electricity everywhere, asking rhetorically whether any trader can sell a product where there are no buyers.
In a social media post, the Transmission Company of Nigeria outlined the methodology it uses to allocate electricity to distribution companies.
According to TCN, the load allocation formula is guided by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission’s Multi-Year Tariff Order, which distributes the total power generated by GenCos among DisCos based on their respective customer bases. The company noted that the amount of electricity accepted by DisCos on the previous day also influences future allocations.
DisCos are required to nominate their daily power requirements in advance, allowing system operators to determine the precise volume of electricity to deliver to each company.
