Electrical energy customers have decried the repeated collapse of the nationwide grid, which occurred once more on Saturday. They described it as a humiliation to the nation.
Sunday PUNCH experiences that the nationwide grid collapsed round 8.16am on Saturday, the third time in a single week, with its attendant blackout throughout the nation.
Checks by our correspondent confirmed that energy era was 3,042 megawatts at 8am. It peaked at 3,968MW at 7am. Nonetheless, it dropped to 47MW round 9am. It later rose marginally because the system operator made efforts to revive normalcy.
The Minister of Energy, Adebayo Adelabu, had promised that Nigeria would attain 6,000 megawatts by the top of the 12 months.
Adelabu assured Nigerians of enchancment in energy provide by subsequent 12 months, including that the federal government was doing its finest to reinforce energy era and transmission.
However incessant collapses of the grid are threatening the achievement of the 6,000 megawatts goal.
In the meantime, the TCN spokesperson, Ndidi Mbah, didn’t reply calls to her telephone or reply to a message looking for details about the grid collapse.
In an interview with our correspondent, the Convener of the Electrical energy Client Safety Advocacy Centre, Princewill Okorie, expressed fear that electrical energy prospects, particularly these on estimated billing, continued to pay for darkness because the grid stored collapsing.
He alleged that substandard tools will need to have been used for energy infrastructure.
Based on him, the Nigerian Electrical energy Regulatory Fee and the Ministry of Energy pay extra consideration to the distribution firms and their income, ignoring the rights of the customers, particularly within the space of metering.
He challenged the Federal Competitors and Client Safety Fee, asking what it had been doing to guard electrical energy customers.
Okorie stated, “Shoppers don’t have electrical energy provide after you’ve raised their invoice to over N200 per kilowatt-hour as Band A prospects. Then, those that will not be metered will likely be billed as if they’ve an influence provide for twenty-four hours. The customers are on the receiving finish in all of those; their companies have collapsed. How will they become profitable? The identical client that’s funding infrastructure; the identical client that’s funding metering, the identical client that’s paying the invoice.
“What’s the high quality of supplies utilized in constructing the grid? Who’re the professionals constructing the grid? How can the grid be steady when transformers are related to the grid on the weekend and at evening with out supervision? When substandard supplies are getting used throughout, how are you going to construct a grid that’s steady?”
NERC blames explosion
The NERC stated the grid collapse was a results of a present transformer explosion.
In an announcement on its social media handles, the NERC stated it “notes with concern the current escalating incidence of grid disturbances typically resulting in marked outage in a number of states thus reversing lots of the positive factors just lately achieved in lowering infrastructure deficit and enhancing grid stability.”
The assertion reads, “Preliminary experiences on the grid disturbance that occurred this morning point out that at this time’s outage was triggered by an explosion of a present transformer on the Jebba transmission station at 0815hrs and an related cascade of energy vegetation shutdowning from the lack of load.”
The fee said, nevertheless, that efforts to revive provide had superior “with energy considerably restored, as at 1300hrs, in 33 states and the FCT.”
It added, “According to the provisions of the Electrical energy Act 2023, the unbundling of the System Operator perform out of Transmission Firm of Nigeria Plc is ongoing with the expectation that an unbiased System Operator would engender extra self-discipline in grid administration and optimised funding in infrastructure.”
Adelabu had stated throughout the week that there was the necessity to have energy grids in several areas or states to place an finish to incessant grid collapses.
The minister, who spoke when he unveiled Hexing Livoltek in Lagos, stated grid collapse was nearly inevitable in Nigeria given the deplorable state of the nation’s energy infrastructure.
Based on him, having a number of energy grids in every area and state would guarantee stability.
