AGS NEWS – On Monday, the national electricity grid partially collapsed, causing power outages in several parts of the country.

The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) confirmed the system failure, which impacted its customers on Monday afternoon. By evening, some customers were still without power.

“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 stabilizing, and we are working diligently with all relevant stakeholders to restore power to the affected areas as quickly as possible,” the AEDC stated, thanking customers for their patience and understanding.

When contacted, Transmission Company of Nigeria spokesperson Ndidi Mbah promised to provide details but had not done so by the time of this report.

Power generation dropped significantly, from 3,749 megawatts at 2 pm to 3,241MW and 1,255MW by 3 pm. It was 4,067MW at 11 am. By 8 pm, power generation had partially recovered to 3,000MW.

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The Egbin Power Plant, which had generated 222MW by 2 pm, dropped to 0MW throughout the day.

This is the fifth power outage caused by grid incidents in 2024. Princewill Okorie, Executive Director of the Electricity Consumer Protection Advocacy Centre, expressed frustration over the repeated grid issues despite rising electricity tariffs.

He criticized the focus on revenue collection over system stability and called for the government to address the root causes of grid failures.

Okorie also highlighted the injustice faced by unmetered customers who are charged for periods without power and questioned the quality and management of grid infrastructure.