National grid collapses amidst tariff increase

Nigeria’s electricity grid, operated from Osogbo in Osun State collapsed in the hour of today throwing the country into darkness amidst the increase in electricity tariff that pushed band A end-user rate to 225 kilowatt per hour (KWh).

The grid went down at about 2:41 am and shut out all feeders supplying the nation’s eleven electricity distribution companies.

While the Federal Government had increased tariffs by over 250 per cent for about 2 million households under band A, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), which is in charge of the grid and the distribution companies has been blamed for the inability to meet up with the promised 20 hour of electricity which was the basis for the increase in tariff.

Already, some of the DisCos have issued public notices blaming the collapse of the national grid for the blackout.

The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company PLC (EEDC) urged customers in five states of southeastern that the grid collapse was the reason for the current power outage.

The company said the outage, which occurred at 2:41am on April 15, 2024, led to the loss of electricity supply to Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo States.

According to EEDC’s Head of Corporate Communications, Emeka Ezeh, the disruption was due to the failure of interface TCN stations, impacting the entire distribution network in the region.

He noted that efforts to restore power had commenced, with some progress achieved by 7:30am when supply was partially restored at the Awada TCN station in Onitsha.

Ezeh said EEDC has been in constant communication with relevant authorities, particularly the National Control Centre in Oshogbo, to expedite the full restoration of electricity across the affected areas.

From 2, 583 megawatts as of 2am, the grid went down to a meagre 64MW as of 3am before coming up to 518MW around 8AM.