THE National grid collapsed on Tuesday, September 19, for the third time in the month.
The Eko Electricity Distribution Company confirmed the collapse in a post via its official X handle on Tuesday.
“Dear valued customer, kindly be informed that following today’s system collapse at 11:31hrs, there is a total loss of supply across our network. We are currently engaging with our partners at the National Control Centre as we await further updates on restoration status. Do kindly bear with us,” the post read.
Power output dropped from 3,594.60 megawatts (MW) at midnight to 42.7MW, leading to a blackout in most parts of the country, as only the Delta Power Plant had 41.00 MW of operational electricity on the grid, while Afam had 1.7 MW.
The reasons behind the grid collapse are still unclear, as there has been no official communication from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
On September 14, barely five days ago, the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company Plc (EEDC) confirmed that Nigeria’s electricity grid collapsed in the early hours of the day in a post via its X handle titled “Notice of Total System Collapse.”
This came less than 12 hours after a previous collapse.
The Nigerian power sector has been going through numerous challenges despite privatisation, with its value chain of generation, transmission and distribution accessing many interventions from the World Bank.
The Federal Government has spent more than N1.6 trillion intervening in the power sector, post-privatisation, due to illiquidity in the industry.
Amidst the collapse of the national grid, many households and businesses are still faced with estimated billing, in most cases paying for power they did not consume.
