Nigeria’s electricity grid collapses

The grid collapsed around 6:58 p.m. on Monday, with generation dropping significantly.

Nigeria’s electricity grid on Monday collapsed yet again, throwing several cities into darkness.

The grid collapsed around 6:58 p.m. on Monday, with generation dropping significantly.

Confirming the collapse, the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), in a statement posted on its X handle, said: “Dear valued customer, please be informed that the power outage being experienced is due to a system failure from the national grid at 6:58 p.m. today, affecting the power supply to our franchise areas.

“Rest assured, we are working with the relevant stakeholders to restore power as soon as the grid is stabilised. Thank you for your understanding,” the statement said.

The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company PLC (EEDC) in a statement by its Head, Corporate Communications, Emeka Ezeh said: “The EEDC wishes to inform its esteemed customers of a general system collapse that occurred at 18:48 hours today, 14th October, 2024.

“This has resulted in the loss of supply currently being experienced across the EEDC network. Consequently, due to this development, all our interface TCN stations are out of supply, and we are unable to provide services 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 (NCC), Osogbo,” it said.

Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDP) said “Dear valued customer, kindly be informed there was a system collapse at 18:48 hrs which has resulted to a loss of power supply across our network.

“We are currently working with our partners as we hope for speedy restoration of the grid. We will keep you updated as soon as the power supply is restored. Kindly bear with us,” it said.

In recent years, the power sector has experienced many challenges in areas of electricity policy enforcement, regulatory uncertainty, gas supply, transmission system constraints, and significant power sector planning shortfalls.

In November 2013, the federal government privatised all power generation and 11 distribution companies, with the government retaining the ownership of the transmission company. This was to improve efficiency in the sector.

However, since privatisation, the grid has continued to collapse amid efforts to reposition the power sector.