The national electricity grid collapsed again on Tuesday morning, marking the second major failure in less than 24 hours.
The PUNCH reported that this latest collapse occurred at 9:17 a.m., shortly after Monday’s disruption, which left many Nigerians without power.
On Monday, the grid failed around 6:18 p.m., causing a sharp drop in power generation from 3.87 gigawatts at 5 p.m. to 3.56GW by 6 p.m., and ultimately plummeting to 0.00GW by 7 p.m., completely cutting off electricity by 8 p.m.
Checks confirmed that power supply distribution had been seriously affected by these collapses, with power generation bottoming out at 0.00MW by 10 a.m.
Tuesday, leading to widespread blackouts. Various power distribution companies across the nation, including the Eko Electricity Distribution Company, confirmed the system failure.
In a statement, the EKEDC addressed its customers, saying, “Dear Valued Customer, kindly be informed that there was a system collapse at 09:17hrs, which has resulted in a loss of power supply across our network. We are currently working with our partners and hope for a speedy restoration of the grid. We will keep you updated as soon as the power supply is restored.”
This latest incident raises critical concerns about the country’s power infrastructure, particularly as it occurred so soon after Monday’s collapse.
As of Monday night, power allocations to distribution companies had already dwindled, with key regions receiving minimal supply—Abuja received 44MW, Ibadan 85MW, Ikeja 72MW, and other areas like Enugu, Kaduna, and Kano receiving even lower amounts.
Despite these power supply shortages, unmetered customers remain at risk of being charged for the blackout period, according to the Executive Director of the Electricity Consumer Protection Advocacy Centre, Princewill Okorie.
Okorie voiced frustrations over the grid’s continued failures despite recent hikes in electricity tariffs.
He expressed concern, asking what steps the government is taking to prevent repeated grid collapses and why customers, especially those unmetered, should bear the cost of these failures.
As of the time of reporting, spokesperson for the Transmission Company of Nigeria, Ndidi Mbah, had not responded to inquiries regarding the cause of the collapses or the timeline for full restoration.
These recurring disruptions have sparked widespread criticism and calls for urgent reforms within the country’s power sector to address the grid’s instability.
