NEWS
Blackout as National Grid collapses the 8th time
The national grid suffered a partial breakdown on Monday, August 5, resulting in a power outage throughout the country.
The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company identified the situation as a technical malfunction that impacted its consumers on Monday afternoon.
In the evening, the AEDC stated that some of its customers were still without electricity.
“We understand that some of our customers are still without power due to a system failure from the national grid at 2.55 pm today, August 5, 2024. Please be assured that the system is gradually stabilising, and we are working diligently with all relevant stakeholders to restore power to the affected areas as quickly as possible,” the AEDC stated, thanking the customers for their patience and understanding.
Ndidi Mbah, the spokesperson of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, when contacted, promised to give an update on the incident. As at the time of filing this report, however, she had yet to revert.
According to media outlet, Punch, the hourly power generation by the various plants dropped from 3,749 megawatts at 2 pm to 3,241MW and 1,255MW as of 3 pm. It was 4,067MW as of 11 am.
The power production gradually recovered, recovering to 3,00MW around 8 p.m.
The Egbin Power Plant, which produced 222MW till 2 p.m., decreased to 0.00MW throughout the day.
This is the eighth time in 2024 that customers will face power disruptions caused by grid collapsing.
During a recent interview, Princewill Okorie, Executive Director of the Electricity Consumer Protection Advocacy Centre, expressed sadness that the system continues to have troubles despite the increase in energy costs.
Okorie noted that unmetered users would still be forced to pay for the duration of the collapse, and questioned what the government was doing to prevent the events.
“What are the causes of these grid failures or collapses? Are the materials used in building the grip of good quality and standard? Who is managing the grid? The players in the sector are more interested in collecting money from the consumers rather than making the system stable.
“What you hear more about the power sector is payment. The money that the international communities are bringing to the industry and the money that is unlawfully collected from the consumers, where are they being utilised? The operational expenditures of the Discos, and how do they spend them?
“In the past few months, they keep increasing tariffs yet the power sector is inefficient. They are interested in collecting money but whether the money is judiciously utilised or not, nobody cares. They keep overbilling customers. The desperation to collect revenue from customers for services not delivered is a challenge.
“Now that the grid collapsed, the unmetered customers will still be made to pay for darkness. That is injustice. The government should address this issue of grid collapse once and for all,” Okorie stated.
