The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has challenged claims by the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) regarding the country's power transmission capacity, calling the figures cited by the DisCo inaccurate and outdated. In a statement issued Friday, TCN's General Manager of Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, said PHEDC's assertion that Nigeria's transmission wheeling capacity is 7,300MW and operational capacity between 4,000MW and 5,000MW does not reflect current realities. TCN stated its verified transmission wheeling capacity is now 8,700MW, achieved through sustained infrastructure investments including transformer installations, substation construction, and transmission line upgrades. The company emphasized that daily grid output depends on nominations by DisCos, generation declarations by GenCos, and transmission capacity declared by TCN, with penalties for shortfalls.
TCN cited peak generation figures from early 2025 to support its position: 5,801.84MW on March 4, 5,713.60MW on March 2, and 5,543.20MW on February 14, all successfully transmitted. It stressed these figures are independently documented and publicly verifiable. PHEDC had attributed Nigeria's power shortfall to gas constraints and low water levels, listing generation plants and hydropower sources, and claiming it is entitled to 6.3 per cent of daily allocation. TCN urged PHEDC to verify its data before public dissemination, warning that misinformation could distort policy discussions and investor perception.
PHEDC's use of outdated transmission figures exposes a troubling gap in coordination between key power sector players. If a distribution company is working with obsolete data, it raises doubts about the accuracy of its planning and public communications. This misalignment doesn't just confuse consumers—it risks undermining confidence in the entire electricity value chain. For Nigerian households, it means the narrative around power failures may be shaped more by institutional disconnects than actual technical limits.
