On Monday, August 5, 2024, parts of Nigeria were plunged into darkness due to a partial collapse of the national electricity grid.
The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) confirmed the power outage, calling it a system failure.
The blackout affected many of its customers, leaving them without electricity in the afternoon and evening.
“We understand that some of our customers are still without power due to a system failure from the national grid at 2.55 pm today, August 5, 2024. Please be assured that the system is gradually stabilising, and we are working diligently with all relevant stakeholders to restore power to the affected areas as quickly as possible,” the AEDC said, thanking customers for their patience.
Ndidi Mbah, a spokesperson for the Transmission Company of Nigeria, said more details about the incident would be provided later. However, by the time of this report, no further information had been given.
Beyond Boders also learned that checks revealed that power generation dropped significantly, going from 3,749 megawatts at 2 pm to 1,255 megawatts by 3 pm.
By 8 pm, generation had gradually risen to 3,000 megawatts. The Egbin Power Plant, one of the major power producers, generated 222 megawatts until 2 pm, but then dropped to zero output for the rest of the day.
This marks the fifth time in 2024 that Nigerians have faced power outages due to issues with the national grid.
Princewill Okorie, the Executive Director of the Electricity Consumer Protection Advocacy Centre, expressed frustration over the repeated grid failures, especially given recent hikes in electricity tariffs.
“Now that the grid collapsed, the unmetered customers will still be made to pay for darkness. That is injustice. The government should address this issue of grid collapse once and for all,” Okorie said.
He also questioned the quality of materials used in the grid and criticized the sector’s focus on revenue collection rather than improving services.
