Nigeria’s power sector hit an all-time low yesterday.
The national grid collapsed to zero Megawatts (Mw) in less than three hours.
The collapse resulted in another round of national blackout, the fifth this year.
The grid first hit the zero Mw at 11:28 am and 12 noon, but was restored negligibly to four mw with only Omoku Power Plant in Rivers State and Shiroro Plant in Niger State, producing three mw and 1mw.
At 12:48 pm, the grid rose to 40mw, which the Nigerian Electricity System Operator of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) sent to only the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC). This left the other DisCos with zero allocation.
Besides, at 14:59pm, the grid again collapsed to zero Mw.
TCN General Manager (Public Affairs) Ndidi Mbah did not respond to The Nation telephone calls on the cause of the collapse. She was also silent on a text message to her mobile telephone line.
But Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDC) and Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company which informed their customers of the development, said TCN experts were working to restore supply.
The energy distributors apologised to customers for the negative impacts of the blackout.
EKEDC wrote: “Dear customers, we regret to inform you of a system collapse on the national grid at 11:27a.m today(yesterday), July 20.
“We are in talks with the TCN to ascertain the cause of the collapse and a possible restoration timeline. We will keep you updated.”
In its message titled: “Power failure due to grid collapse,” KEDC said: “This is to inform the public that the country’s electricity grid has, on Wednesday(yesterday), collapsed, causing a blackout throughout the country.
“However, experts from TCN are working to address the challenge to restore power supply.
“While we apologise for any inconveniences, we assure everyone of improved supply as soon as we get energy from the national grid.”
Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company also wrote: “We regret to inform our customers that the power failure currently being experienced is a result 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 to us.”
NDPHC: Our stranded 2,000Mw not evacuated
Amid the collapse, Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) said it had 2,000Mw which the National Control Centre (NCC), Osogbo, failed to evacuate.
It accused the centre of preferring to evacuate energy generated by private companies because of a favourable power purchase agreement.
The power holding company also said 32 per cent of electricity generated in the country is lost during transmission and distribution.
The NDPHC added that since the privatisation of the power sector, it has recorded over N3 trillion deficit in eight years.
Its Executive Director, Ifeoluwa Oyedele, spoke to reporters while presenting a paper at the International Power Engineering Exhibition & Conference in Abuja.
Oyedele explained that NCC prefers the independent power producers because of an agreement it (government) signed.
“They (government) wants them to recoup their money. Because the NDPHC plants are publicly owned, the Federal Government uses them to subsidise,” he added.
Presenting a paper, titled: “Nigeria Electricity Power Industry In Crisis: Separate Undue Politics From Power Market & Practice,” he said forecasts indicate that the “privatised power sector” might lose N820 billion this year.
“It is also important to note that the privatised power sector has been running financial deficits since inception. The forecast deficits this year are projected to reach N820 billion with cumulative deficits of over N3trillion since 2014,” the NDPHC boss said.
The deficits, according to him, have been passed through a supply chain to the government to underwrite by way of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) interventions.”
Shedding light on the cause of the deficits, Oyedele said from a total installed capacity of 12,500Mw only 4,087Mw in 2020, were available for generation.
Senate passes Electricity bill
The Senate yesterday called for increased investment and reform of the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) as it passed the Electricity Bill 2022.
The passage of the bill followed the consideration of a report by the Senate Committee on Power at plenary.
Chairman of the Committee Gabriel Suswam, in his presentation, said the bill seeks to provide an ideal legal and institutional framework to leverage the modest gains of privatisation of the power sector.
According to Suswam, the bill will improve utilisation of generated power through increased investments in new technologies to enhance transmission and distribution.
He said: “The bill, when signed into law, will open up the space in the power industry and allow states or individuals with capacities to generate their own power and distribute.
“Since electricity is on the Concurrent List in the Constitution, the bill has allowed state governments to license people who intend to operate mini-grid within the state.
“The bill also gives legal backing to renewable energy. If you decide to generate one megawatt of power using solar as an energy source, that is also provided for.
“That is the only way the power problem would be solved. The space is now open. There is a little restriction as to who will generate power and distribute it.
“What is obtainable now is that any power generated must be put on the national grid for transmission and distribution.
“The bill also provides that any power generated below one megawatt does not require a licence to distribute.”
The lawmaker further disclosed that the government disbursed $100 million to Siemens to kick-start transmission at the distribution end of the power sector.
During consideration of the bill, Senate President Ahmad Lawan sought to know the role and operational capacity of banks which took over some Discos indebted to them.
Suswam explained to him that the take-over was duly carried out in collaboration with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE).
He said there was a transitional process in place during the take-over of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) by a commercial bank to ensure efficiency in service delivery.
Also, Ahmad Babba-Kaita said the faulty way in which DisCos were created were largely responsible for their inability to live up to expectation.
Deputy Chief Whip Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi said the aspect of renewable energy in the bill was given prominence amid the energy mix.
After a clause-by-clause consideration by the Committee of the Whole, the bill was passed.
Lawan said: “Because of its importance and sensitivity, we would like to see a quick concurrence by the House of Representatives because time is of the essence as far as Nigeria is concerned when you talk about electricity and energy supplies in Nigeria.
“We would like to see that this bill is fully processed in the National Assembly and sent to the Executive side of government for assent by Mr President.
“We believe that this piece of legislation can change the fortunes of the electricity industry in Nigeria for the better.”
