The national electricity grid has for the sixth time in 2022 collapsed. Many homes and businesses across the country have been thrown into total blackout after its collapse on Wednesday.
The collapse, according to the authorities was due to system failure, which occurred at about 11.27.am. This has resulted in the crash of the entire power supply nationwide to 40 megawatts (mw) as against 3,000MW generated on Tuesday.
The development further reduced the 10 electricity distribution companies (Discos) to zero allocation, except 40MW and 10MW to Abuja and Ibadan Discos respectively, when the incident occurred.
However, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), which manages the national grid, has embarked on an investigation to ascertain the cause of the collapse.
Confirming the incident in a notice to its customers, Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) said it was in talks with the TCN to ascertain the cause of the collapse and possible restoration timeline.
EKEDC stated, “Dear customers, we regret to inform you of a system collapse on the national grid at precisely 11:27a.m today, July 20.
“We are in talks with the Transmission Company of Nigeria to ascertain the cause of the collapse and a possible restoration timeline. We will keep you updated on the situation.”
The development has thrown many parts of the country, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT,) into total darkness and had yet to be resolved as of yesterday evening.
Also, the Head, of Corporate Communications, Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (KAEDC), Abdulazeez Abdullahi, announced the incident on behalf of the company in a statement published on its Facebook page.
“We regret to inform our customers that the power failure currently being experienced is as of the collapse of the national grid which occurred by 11:28 this morning.
“We hereby assure our esteemed customers of restoration of normal power supply as soon as TCN restores supply to us. We sincerely regret the inconveniences caused by the system failure,” he stated.
But the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) on Thursday said restoration of the national grid was almost completed following its collapse on Wednesday.
Mrs Ndidi Mbah, TCN General Manager, Public Affairs, said this in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja.
Mbah said that the national grid experienced system disturbance at about 11:27a.m. on Wednesday, but that its restoration was almost completed as at 11:00 p.m.
But until this very report, the grid remains in its collapsed state.