The nation’s power grid experienced a total collapse on Sunday, plunging consumers across the country into blackout.
Kaduna Electricity Distribution Plc also informed its customers of the system failure from the national grid.
“Dear esteemed customers, we are currently experiencing a system collapse from the national grid hence the power outage in our franchise states. Normal supply to our customers will resume as soon as the national grid is back up and stable,” it said on Twitter.
Enugu Electricity Distribution Plc disclosed on its Twitter handle that the present loss of supply in the entire South East “is as a result of a system collapse which occurred at 09:21 am of today, 30th June, 2019.”
It said, “This is as a result of fire outbreak on Benin 330KV transmission line reactor. As a result of this unfortunate development, there is zero supply to all customers in our franchise areas as all our injection substations are affected.”
The Managing Director of Transmission Company of Nigeria, Usman Mohammed, confirmed the development to our The Punch on the telephone, saying the TCN would issue a statement soon.
The TCN, which manages the national grid, is still fully owned and operated by the government.
Recall that the grid had collapsed twice within 24 hours which resulted to a reduction of electricity allocation to distribution companies (DisCos) across the country.
During a press conference recently, Mr Usman noted that the TCN had raised $1.6 billion for investment in lines and transmissions, while there’s also an urgent need to have a commensurate investment on the distribution chain to ensure a stable grid in the country.
“What happened a day before yesterday at 14:32 hours was a case of system collapse, we had tripping,” he said.
“The reason for the grid collapse was that there was a multiple tripping around Onitsha substation. We are also suspecting that one of the generators went out.
“We have sent our team of engineers to go and investigate, we normally investigate this kind of disturbances.”
Muhammed said that in spite of the fragile nature of the nation’s power grid, TCN had achieved some level of stability on the national grid.
