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Nigerians were on Thursday morning thrown into darkness after the national grid system collapsed.
The system is operated by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) from Osogbo, Osun State.
Some of the nation’s Distribution Companies confirmed that the grid collapsed in the early hours of Thursday, as most of their feeders are out.
The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company PLC (EEDC) in a statement said that “a total system collapse” occurred at 12:40 a.m. on Thursday.
“This has resulted in the loss of supply currently being experienced across the network,” the company said in a statement signed by Emeka Ezeh, Head of Corporate Communications.
Due to this development, the distribution company said all its interface TCN stations are out of supply, and it will be unable to provide service to customers in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States.
“We are on standby awaiting detailed information of the collapse and restoration of supply from the National Control Centre (NCC), Osogbo,” it said.
The Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) said, “Kindly be informed that a system collapse occurred today at 6:41 a.m. This has resulted in a total loss of supply across our network.
“We are in continuous communication with our partners at the National Control Centre (NCC), Osogbo. You will be updated as we get more information,” the company said in a statement posted on its X handle.
Also, Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) said, “We regret to inform you that the current power outage across our network is due to a system collapse from the national grid, which has resulted in our inability to distribute electricity to our esteemed customers.
The outage on Thursday affected all of Nigeria’s 36 states and its capital, Abuja.
The grid has collapsed multiple times, and it was not clear when power would be restored.
Power generation fell to zero early on Thursday and had risen to 273 megawatts (MW) by 10:30 GMT, well below the daily average of 4,100MW, data from the Transmission Company of Nigeria showed.
“Power supply shall be restored as soon as the national grid is powered back,” the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, which supplies power to parts of northern Nigeria, said in a statement.
Grid power supply is erratic in Nigeria, a major oil and gas producer, forcing households and businesses to use diesel and petrol generators.
However, petrol and diesel prices have more than doubled this year after the government ended decades-long subsidies, and many households and businesses have struggled to find alternative sourceσ of power.
Ιn 2022, Nigeria’s grid collapsed at least four times, which authorities blamed on technical problems.
Nigeria has 12,500MW of installed capacity but produces about a quarter of that.
President Bola Tinubu has promised to improve supply by allowing state governments to build their own power plants in a bid to help spur sluggish economic growth.
Source: premiumtimesng.com
