Nigeria’s electricity national grid has collapsed again. Reports disclose that this is the seventh time in 2022 that the grid is collapsing.
The grid experienced a total of 206 collapses between 2010 and 2019. Following the recent national grid collapse, the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company, via a statement on its Twitter handle said”
“This is to inform you that the outage you are currently experiencing is due to the system collapse of the national grid, which occurred earlier today at 10:50hrs.
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“This has affected the Transmission Stations within our network and resulted in the loss of power supply to our customers. Kindly bear with us as we await the restoration of the grid.”
The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company Plc also announced system collapse, adding that the current blackout being currently experienced had affected the entire South-East.
The announcement contained in a statement by the power distribution company issued in Enugu on Monday was signed by its Head, Corporate Communications, Mr. Emeka Ezeh.
His words; “This has resulted in the loss of supply currently being experienced across the network.
“Due to this development, all our interface TCN stations are out of supply, and we are unable to provide service to our 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, Osogbo.”
The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, which manages the grid was yet to disclose reasons for the latest collapse as at the time of filing in this report.
The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) also reported a system collapse explaining that the current power outage is due to a system failure from the National Grid” and that the system collapsed at about 10.55 am on September 26th, 2022.
The incessant collapse of the National grid is nothing new in Nigeria, as it has become a regular reoccurrence in the country, causing nationwide blackouts.
The government has attributed this appalling national grid collapse to the poor generation by generation companies, low water levels at Hydro water plants, and constant attacks on transmission towers.
The government has also stated that most of its effort to expand the grid has often been frustrated by communities who deny the right of way to transmission projects.
The grid collapses have often been associated with obsolete equipment and a lack of maintenance by the TCN. It is disheartening that this national grid collapse often witnessed in Nigeria negatively impacts the lives and businesses of Nigerian citizens.
It is reported that Nigerians spend about $14 billion annually on inefficient and expensive petrol or diesel-powered generators due to the epileptic power supply in the country.
For small business owners, Nigeria’s power crisis has become a crippling inconvenience that has forced many to rely on diesel generators, which increases their expenses and drastically reduces the profit margin. The impact of this is that a lot of businesses are struggling to stay afloat with several others folding up.
Despite the privatization of the power sector in the country, with hope that there will be improved power supply, ironically it has only worsened.