The Nigerian government on Tuesday hinted at plans to restructure the Transmission Company of
Nigeria (TCN) into two entities.
Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, disclosed this while speaking at the Federal Ministry of
Power ministerial retreat held in Abuja on Tuesday Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Adelabu said the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) transmission sub-.
sector has been identified as a critical weak point in the electricity value chain.
“To align with the Electricity Act 2023 and the industry’s demands, it’s time to restructure the
Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) into two entities: the Independent System Operator (ISO) and
the Transmission Service Provider (TSP),” Mr Adelabu said.
He said this restructuring must synchronise with the evolving landscape of state electricity markets,
addressing calls for the decentralisation of the national grid into regional grids interconnected by a new
higher voltage national or super-grid.
Speaking on the finance, revenue assurance and capital investment programmes across the electricity
value chain, Mr Adelabu explained that the heart of NESI’s proposed reforms hinges upon securing long-
term financing across the entire value chain.
The minister also noted that the major issue in Nigeria’s power sector is the pricing of gas utilised by
generating companies (GenCos) in US dollars.
“A hugely volatile variable that significantly affects the pricing of electricity to end-users. A more
preferable option is to ensure that the gas utilized by the GenCos is traded in Naira to better manage
the foreign currency-related inflationary trends that challenge the faithful application of the multi-year
Tariff Order (MYTO) methodology,” he said.
As of 2022, he said 70.5 per cent of Nigeria’s electricity was generated from thermal plants, 27.3 per
cent from hydro, whilst solar and other power plants made up 2.2 per cent.
Mr Adelabu said the ministry would like to see more utility-scale solar power plants by 2030, which
brings added responsibility for investments in generation and grid stability to address the variability that
transmission of renewable energy-generated power over long distances brings.
