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Tag: TCN

  • TCN gets $1b for expansion, others

    TCN gets $1b for expansion, others

    The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has secured about $1 billion from multilateral donors, including the government of Japan, to expand and rehabilitate its facilities, it was learnt.

    TCN’s Acting Managing Director/Chief Executive, Mr. Usman Gur Mohammed, told The Nation that the Federal Government through the Ministries of Power, Works and Housing and Finance, had secured significant amount through that source to support improvement of the transmission arm of the power sector.

    Mohammed was in Lagos on the directive of Power, Works and Housing Minister, Babatunde Fashola to inspect one of the TCN’s transmission towers that is being threatened by refuse dump and illegal oil refining and burning. The TCN chief said such activities compromises the integrity of the tower, adding that in the event of a problem, the maintenance team of the company would not have access to the facility for repairs. Should the tower collapse as a result of the compromise, the entire Apapa and environs would be out of power supply, he added.

    “Therefore, it is imperative that I came to see things, discuss and collaborate with Lagos State Government to find solution to the problem and permanently stop the nefarious activities going on under the tower,” he added.

    On tackling the funding problem facing the TCN, Mohammed said: “Funding problem in the power sector is not restricted only to the transmission, it extends to all other arms of the power industry. The liquidity in the sector is so low because the collection efficiency is very low. It is what the distribution companies collected that are distributed to all the other arms including transmission.

    “But since the coming of this government, it has been putting money in transmission. Money that has been put by this government into transmission has never been put into transmission in the history of Nigeria.

    “We have also secured a lot of funding from multilateral donors, backed by the Ministries of Power, Works and Housing and Finance, and this is being channeled into transmission. To me, funding is not so much a big issue to transmission because we have got the support of the government.

    “Even though we are not getting enough from the market, the government is supporting us through the multilateral donors that give us money to finance our expansion and rehabilitation programme. So, I can assure you everything is going on well and in the next one or two years, Nigerians will see the difference.

    “We have secured significant amount of money from the multilateral donors but the utilisation of such funds depend on the outcome of the tenders. Tenders under the multilateral donors’ fund have to be internationally competitive and, by my estimate, we have secured about $1 billion. We have existing projects that have not been doing well, which have been resuscitated.”

     

  • Grid expansion: TCN gets $1.55b from donors

    •Agency plans 20,000 megawatts transmission capacity

    THE Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has secured $1.55billion from multilateral donors to revive some projects and expand the grid.

    Its Interim Managing Director, Usman Gur Mohammed, spoke with reporters at the 18th Monthly Power Sector and Stakeholders meeting in Kumboso, Kano State.

    Mohammed noted that the intervention came from the World Bank, the African Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, European Union and Japan International Corporation Agency (JAICA).

    He said the TCN is working towards realising 20,000 megawatts of transmission capacity in the next few years.

    Mohammed said: “The strategy is that we have approached the multilateral donors and we have been able to raise some significant money. We have also resuscitated some projects that have not been doing well, like the Abuja transmission project, which is supposed to provide three sub- stations and provide another avenue for supply through Abuja from Lafia.

    “We have also resuscitated the JAICA project that has been on the drawing board for a long time now.

    He said the two projects and other projects were worth $1.55 billion and the funds came from the donors.

    Mohammed noted that when he assumed office, he discovered that TCN’s capacity to wheel power was higher than the capacity of the distribution companies (DisCos).

    According to him, there was need for grid expansion in the face of cash paucity, “which made TCN to seek the support of the Federal Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Power to raise money from donor agencies”.

    He said: “We have a stranded load generation of about 2,000 megawatts. This is not healthy for the development of the sector. As time goes on, if we can’t pick those generation, it means that we are going to kill investment in the generation section.

    Mohammed said the TCN “is working with Discos to see how to improve their capacity”.

    According to him, Interface focal officers have been appointed to help the DiSCos pick more loads.

    He noted that the company last week advertised transformer capacity for Kano, Kaduna, Lagos and Shiroro region.

  • TCN assures GenCos of 6,000Mw

    TCN assures GenCos of 6,000Mw

    Following the permission for eligible customers to purchase electricity directly from the electricity generation companies (GenCos), the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has assured power producers of its capacity to transmit 6,000megawatts ((Mw) of electricity.

    The Executive Secretary, Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC), Barr Joy Ogaji, told reporters in Abuja yesterday that the TCN has always recorded stranded 2,000Mw that is readily available for customers.

    She explained that power for eligible customers will not in anyway affect residential customers that are willing to pay for power since the sector will simply resort to sending out the stranded 2,000Mw.

    Ogaji said by this week, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) will come up with a framework on the provision of electricity for eligible customers.

    She said GenCos are owed nearly N600billion, while they are in turn owing gas producers N200billion. This, she said, has degenerated to a situation of cash and carry gas that has further led to the shutdown of some power plants.

    Commending the Federal Government on the permission for eligible customers to get power directly from GenCos, she recalled that “over three years after privatisation, the 11 distribution companies have enjoyed the monopoly of bulk power purchase and are still unable to distribute and account properly for power purchased and distributed, while we have GenCos stakeholders, who are potentially competitive entities, waiting desperately to sell more power as well as end users willing to buy more power for residential, commercial and industrial use.”

    She said the declaration does not in any way spell doom stressing that GenCos can now sell power to suppressed load centres thereby making up for dwindling revenue and pay their gas suppliers.

    Customers, according to her, now have the permission to cooperate amongst themselves providing the enabling environment and infrastructure to be classified as “eligible customers.”.

    She said that the idea means investing in the right infrastructure such as meters, power lines transformers and electrical switch gears.

    Ogaji submits that the declaration “portends several benefits for the sector as it will also address some of the liquidity and revenue shortfall in the sector as guaranteed cash flow will definitely boost the morale for potential investors in the area of gas field development, power generation capacity and also in the manufacturing industry with assurance of constant power supply to meet production demand.”

  • TCN’s CEO lifts payment suspension

    TCN’s CEO lifts payment suspension

    The new interim Managing Director/CEO, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Usman Gur Mohammed, has ordered a partial lift of the suspension of payments in the areas of the company’s operations.

    In a circular dated February 10,  he directed that the lift on the ban on the following areas: “2016 FGN appropriation, Imprest of outstations, payments of medical and staff salaries, payments of Eurobond, AFD (African Development Bank), ADB loans.”

    He directed officers to continue to process and refer to the undersigned on other critical operational matters as they arise.

    The circular with ref No: TCN/TCEO/0001/vol 001/2017, that was addressed to the Managing Director of Market Operator (MO) and Managing Director Transmission Service Provider (TSP), was copied all the General Managers of the MO and TSP.

    Mohammed had in a letter dated February 3 directed the TCN to temporarily put on hold all payment accounts of the company with immediate effect.

    An official circular distributed to heads of the various departments of the company indicated that he reportedly took this decision the day that the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power Mr. Louis Edozien confirmed him as the new head of the company.  Mohammed gave the directive that all payment obligations of the TCN to contractors for capital projects through the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), Remita payment platform on the Treasury Single Account (TSA) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

  • Why TCN chief was removed, by Fed Govt

    Why TCN chief was removed, by Fed Govt

    The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, yesterday told the Senate and House of Representatives joint Committee on Power that the decision of the Federal Government to effect changes in the management of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) was informed by the need for improvement.

    The committee is probing the sudden changes in the management of TCN.

    He also said the appointment of a Managing Director for TCN has nothing to do with $174 million African Development Bank (AfDB) loan.

    The government asked the Acting Managing Director of TCN, EngrAtikuAbubakar to hand over to a new Managing Director, Mr. Usman Gur Mohammed, said to have been deployed from AfDB to manage the affairs of the TCN.

    The workers of the organisation were not happy over deployment of Mohammed from the continental lender to TCN and petitioned the National Assembly.

    Chairman of the joint committee, Senator EnyinnayaAbaribe, said a petition by the power sector union in respect of sudden changes in the management of TCN prompted the committee to investigate what was going on in the TCN.

    Abaribe noted that the committee felt that if the issues raised by the union were not addressed, they could aggravate the power sector crisis.

    Fashola explained that the matter of appointment of a Managing Director for the TCN was “above his pay grade to stop the change having received a presidential directive to carry out the change.”

    The minister who said the issue in the TCN was a matter of employer-employee relationship said “if government does not want to keep an employee, there is nothing anybody can do.”

  • TCN boss appointment not condition for AfDB loan – Fashola

    TCN boss appointment not condition for AfDB loan – Fashola

    The appointment of Mr. Usman Mohammed as interim Managing Director of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) is not a condition for Africa Development Bank (AfDB) loan facility, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, said on Monday.

    The AfDB had last week approved a $155 million loan for Economic and Power Sector Reform Programme (EPSERP) in the country.

    Fashola stated this when he appeared before the Joint Committee on Power on Monday in Abuja, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

    The minister’s appearance followed a petition written to the Senate by workers under the aegis of the National Union of Electricity Employees and the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies.

    The workers had alleged that due process was not followed in the appointment of Mohammed as TCN chief.

    Fashola, however, denied the allegations that the appointment of Mohammed, who worked with AfDB was a form of collateral for the loan.

    He said the appointment was designed to ensure responsiveness to the needs of generation and distribution companies in Nigeria.

    “The appointment of new TCN boss has nothing to do with lack of capacity. It has everything to do with the need to improve.

    “The transmission stations are the connectivity of sub stations and need to constantly interlink with themselves, have supervisory control and skills acquisition system that helps them perform optimally.

    “The engineers will not be able to do their work if the administrative sector that provides the tools budgeting and planning does not give them the tools to do their work,’’ the minister said.

  • TCN blames DisCos for power crisis

    TCN blames DisCos for power crisis

    • FG approves contractor financing model

    The Managing Director Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Abubakar Atiku, yesterday blamed the low revenue collection in the power sector on the inefficiency of the electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos).
    Addressing reporters in Abuja, he recalled that the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) was recording an excess of 60 per cent revenue collection.
    He regretted the private investors undertook to improve on this while acquiring the assets from the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) but failed.
    Stressing the record of current DisCos revenue collection was a far cry from the expected projections, Atiku urged the private investors to scale up its collection to match the agreements they signed with the BPE.
    He said: “Discos, they are 100% responsible for deriving the revenue to the electricity market and they are not living up to expectations.
    “We expect them to be 100% efficient we know it is not possible but when PHCN was privatised it is on record that the successor companies are doing more than 60% in terms of collection.
    “It was anticipated at the plan of the privatisation to see that there is improvement over and above 60%.
    “But what are we witnessing now is lower performance. So distribution companies must step up to live to the expectation they signed with BPE when they bought over these assets.”
    According to him, the major challenge facing TCN is the problem of liquidity in the electricity market.
    The Managing Director pointed out that payment of TCN services in the market has gone down from 55 percent to 30 percent in recent times.
    With that, he said the revenue coming to funds’ coming to TCN has reduced.
    Reacting to load rejection, Atiku noted that while some of the distribution firms were rejecting, others were taking more than their allocation which in the long run balanced the system and power frequency and neutralised any cause for concern.
    According to him, the federal government has released 98 percent of the firm’s 2016 budgetary allocation while it hopes to secure more funds from the current budget for completion of 22 critical projects.
    He stated: “The federal government has also approved the Contractor Financing Model for reinforcement and rehabilitation of projects in TCN.
    “The first tram his for $200million worth of projects. The implication of this finance model is that the private contractors or investors can now fund TCN projects and be paid overtime.
    “Although this would lead to the timely completion of projects, Uris however premised on our getting about 60 percent of Israel invoice paid, which is not the case presently.”

  • Workers close TCN offices in protest of MD’s removal

    Workers close TCN offices in protest of MD’s removal

    Workers under the aegis of National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) at the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) yesterday shut down offices at the firm’s headquarters in Abuja.
    They protested what they called the unjustified attempt to remove Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director, Abubakar Atiku as the company’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO).
    Their action was predicated on a letter written to Atiku and dated January 31, urging him to vacate office for Usman Gur Mohammed.
    The letter, which The Nation sighted is titled: “Request for the secondment of Mr Usman Gur Mohammed from African Development Bank as the Transitional Chief Executive Officer of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN)”.
    The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Louis Edozien signed the letter with reference number FMP/OPS/50/I, that he addressed to the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, referring to an earlier one with which minister requested for the service of Gur Mohammed from the African Development Bank.
    It stated that: “I refer to your letter Ref. No: F11373/S.34/C914/T/ 208 dated 19th January 2017, conveying the approval of the African Development Bank (ADB) in respect of a request authorized by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the secondment of Mr. Usman Gur Mohammed as an interim Chief Executive Officer of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) for a period of 12 months.
    “Accordingly, he is by a copy of this letter requested to resume for duty on Wednesday, February 1, 2017, which is the date his appointment will take effect.”
    Our Abuja correspondent learnt that a copy of the same letter was presented to Abubakar Atiku, who is the MD/CEO of TCN, besides verbal instructions from the Edozien, urging him to respect the contents of the letter.
    Wisdom Nwachukwu, who is FCT chairman of NUEE, however, said that owing to the technical nature of the power sector, it is out of place for an accountant to take over the duty of TCN Managing Director from a trained engineer like Atiku. He said that it will be tantamount to economic sabotage.
    The labour leader insisted that the plot to remove Atiku was not in good fate but to merely bring in Fashola’s stooge to manage the $364million loan that the TCN is anticipating from the World Bank.
    He added that “We are not against the government taking decisions but the impunity with which this is being done, as the staff of TCN by the constitution are supposed to be 75 percent technical and only 25 percent non-technical.”
    He also stressed that, constitutionally, the MD/CEO of TCN should have been informed or given a notice of at least three months ahead, noting further that “people are trying to subvert the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

  • Power generation drops to 2662 megawatts, says TCN

    Power generation drops to 2662 megawatts, says TCN

    The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has said the country’s power generation capacity dropped from 3,959 megawatts on Jan. 4 to 2,662 megawatts on Jan. 22.

    The Nigeria Electricity System Operator (SO) website, a sub agency of TCN, gave the figure in its daily forecast on power generation data in Lagos on Sunday.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that TCN attributed the drop to low water levels at the hydro power stations and dearth of gas to the power generating companies.

    TCN said the total output of 2,662.20 megawatts from the generation companies on Sunday had been transferred to the 11 distribution companies.

    According to the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) operational report for Jan. 4, the power sector hit a peak generation of 4,959 megawatts but dropped to 2,662.20 megawatts on Jan. 22.

    NESI said the sector recorded highest system frequency of 51.32Hz and lowest system frequency of 48.52 Hz, while the highest and the lowest voltage recorded on Sunday were 372KV and 300KV.

    An official of TCN, who preferred anonymity, told NAN electricity generation had been dwindling due to challenge of accessing gas by generation companies.

    The official said low water levels at the country’s hydro thermal stations also contributed to the drop in generation.

    He said most hydro stations were currently confronted with low water challenges to generate energy.

    The TCN official said this often caused system collapse.

    According to him, it is a challenging period for power sector but it will get better once the hydro swing into high water level and gas becomes available.

    He attributed the drop in generation to the attack launched against pipeline facilities belonging to the Nigeria Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) on Jan. 17 around Ughelli in Delta State.

    A top official of Egbin Power Station, who also pleaded anonymity, said the power plant, with a capacity of 1,320 megawatts, now generates 340 megawatts due to gas constraint.

    The official said that the 340 megawatts Egbin generated was wheeled out to the national grid at 6.00 am on Sunday.

    The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, had on Friday said that the sabotage of power assets by militants prevented Nigeria from generating 7,000 MW of electricity.

  • 130 power projects abandoned since 2002, says TCN

    130 power projects abandoned since 2002, says TCN

    One hundred and thirty power projects have been abandoned since 2002 due to inadequate funds, Managing Director, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) Dr. Atiku Abubakar said yesterday.

    Abubakar spoke at the Electricity Customers’ Forum, organised by the Eko Electricity in Lagos.

    He assured that this administration will execute  the projects to enable the power sector add value to lives of the citizenry.

    The TCN chief said the Omotosho/Egbin 330/11 KVA line , one of the projects, will be given priority in the 2017 budget.

    “We have the capacity to generate 7, 500 megawatts but we are faced with issues of gas.

    Abubakar said: ”The country’s power generation hovers between 3,000 and 3,300 megawatts due to challenge of inadequate gas supply.”

    Abubakar regretted that this caused generation to shrink to about 3000 megawatts.

    According to him, the government will turn the challenges to opportunities, to spur growth of the sector.

    House of Representatives Committee on Power Chairman Mr. Daniel Asuquo said the lower chamber would cooperate with the Federal Government to ensure the sector’s growth.

    Asuquo hailed owners of Eko Electricity Distribution on initiatives to improve quantity, quality and reliability of supply despite shortfall in allocation from the national grid.

    He said the initiative to source supplementary power through embedded generation options would guarantee greater supply.

    Asuquo said it would also reduce the Disco’s Aggregate Technical, Commercial and Collections Loss, ATC&C;  and urged the company to improve its metering system.

    He added that Eko Electricity mopped up excess power from existing captive generation within its licence area and entered into agreements with Independent Power Providers, to  enhance quality service delivery.

    The lawmaker said the embedded generation options will also improve revenue collection efficiency, distribution and performance.

    Head, Consumer Affairs, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Mr. Hardley Blue-Jack, assured customers that NERC would improve the sector through regulations.

    Managing Director, Eko Electricity Plc, Mr. Oladele Amoda, said there had been no investment in the sector in 30 years before sale of assets of successor companies of defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to the private sector.

    He said 70 per cent of the assets were dilapidated when they were sold in 2013, adding that investors spurred growth in the sector despite liquidity challenge.

    Amoda said his company would satisfy customers by providing value added services.

    He said the company in the last three years metered substantial number of customers, and ordered 500 transformers to ensure steady supply to customers during Yuletide.