·TCN blames GENCOS
·Power sector structurally defective, consumers
·DisCos apologise
Efforts by the Federal Government and the operators of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry to stabilize the national power grid system suffered another setback yesterday as the grid collapsed for the 4th time in 24 days.
Data from the National System Operator posted on its portal indicated that the latest collapse began before 1pm when Jebba and Shiroro Hydro Power disappeared from the grid. This dropped grid generation to 2,711.84 Megawatts, having reached 3,631.66MW at 12 noon.
Generation dropped further to 61.60MW as of 2pm with only Ibom Power on the grid. Further checks showed that on Monday power generation peaked at 4,882.60MW with the lowest generation at 3,791.60MW.
Last month, the power grid described as the weakest link in Nigeria's electricity supply chain collapsed thrice (October 14, 15 and 19) with the last one leaving 15 states in the Northern part of the country in complete blackout for about nine days.
The poor state of the grid attracted the attention of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who directed the immediate restoration of supply to the affected states after meeting with state governors.
Explaining the latest setback, the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, which manages the grid described the incident as "a partial disturbance at about 1:52 pm today, 5th November 2024".
The company's General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah explained that the partial disturbance "followed a series of lines and generators' trippings that caused instability of the grid and, consequently, the partial disturbance of the system. The data from the National Control Centre (NCC) revealed that a part of the grid was not affected by the bulk power disruption".
She assured consumers that "TCN engineers are already working to quickly restore bulk power supply to the states affected by the partial disturbance. Presently, bulk power supply has been restored to Abuja, at 2.49pm, and we are gradually restoring to other parts of the country."
Power sector structurally defective, consumers
Speaking to Vanguard on the issue, National Chairman, Electricity Consumers Association of Nigeria, Chijoke James said consumers continue to be at the receiving end of the incapacity of the operators of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry, NESI.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
"Throughout the month of October the supply remained epileptic due to the inability of the operators to deliver power to homes and businesses. At the end of the month bills to consumers without meters remained the same. No compensation for the lack of supply.
"For consumers in Band-A who pay premium tariff, supply over the month was significantly below the promised minimum of 20 hours of supply daily but have you heard anybody speak about compensation? No, because in this industry, consumers are never considered.
"You would have expected that with the increase in revenue since April when the Band-A business started supply would improve but it has not. This goes to show that tariff is not the issue. The sector has a structural defect that favours the operators to the detriment of the consumers and until this is addressed, we will be going round in circles", he stated.
DISCOS confirm disruption, apologise
Meanwhile, electricity distribution companies, DisCos, which took to their social media accounts to confirm the power supply disruptions apologised for the incident.
