With over 90 million households yet to be connected to the national grid, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), yesterday, disclosed that it has been unable to connect new Electricity Generating Companies (GENCOs) because of the inability of the Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs), to take additional load.
This is coming as the National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN) commenced the training of 600 staff of TCN.
Speaking during the kick-off capacity building training programme for the staff of TCN, the company’s Managing Director, Gur Muhammed, said: “Currently we are not connecting new GENCOs, because connecting them is like putting contingent liability to Nigeria as a nation.
“If the new GENCOs are connected to the power grid, they will like to generate to make a profit, and once they generate, they will seek for money and we will be paying for capacity we are not using.
“This is why TCN is not putting any effort to connect new GENCOs. We understand that Nigerians need electricity, and we also want to see that the DISCOs distribute this power to the end users. Unfortunately, the DISCOs have not been able to raise enough capital, there are also issues with the tariff, and the several other challenges they are faced with.”
