Blackout as power grid collapses — 11th time in 2019

There was blackout across the country for hours on Friday night as the power grid collapsed for the 11th time in 2019.

It is not yet clear the cause of the collapse which was announced by the electricity distribution companies (DisCos) nationwide.

Ndidi Mbah, spokesman of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), did not immediately respond to enquiries on the development.

On Twitter, Eko Electricity Distribution Plc said the grid collapsed twice between Friday night and early Saturday morning.

It wrote: “At 2315hrs, we experienced a system collapse across all transmission stations. Supply was received at 0315hrs. Sadly, at 0438hrs, the system collapsed again. TCN and our team are working to restore supply. Kindly bear with us.”

Power Update: At 2315hrs, we experienced a system collapse across all transmission stations. Supply was received at 0315hrs. Sadly, at 0438hrs, the system collapsed again. TCN & our team are working to restore supply. Kindly bear with us.

— Eko Electricity Distribution Company (@EKEDP) November 9, 2019

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Similarly, the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company tweeted about the system outage.

“We experienced a grid system outage yesterday, which affected all our franchise areas,” it tweeted.

”Supply is being restored gradually as we await more allocation from the national grid. We regret the inconvenience this may have caused. Do bear with us.”

Good morning, we experienced a grid system outage yesterday, which affected all our franchise areas. Supply is being restored gradually as we await more allocation from the national grid. We regret the inconvenience this may have caused. Do bear with us.

— aedcelectricity (@aedcelectricity) November 9, 2019

The Jos Electricity Distribution Plc also announced that all its franchise states were experiencing power failure.

“There is power outage in all our franchise states due to system collapse nationwide. We will provide an update shortly. Thank you for bearing with us,” it said on Twitter.

Esteemed customers, there is power outage in all our franchise states due to system collapse nationwide. We will provide an update shortly. Thank you for bearing with us.

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— Jos Electricity Distribution (JED) PLC (@josdisco) November 9, 2019

The grid suffered four total collapses in January, and one each in February and April.

TheCable had reported how the grid collapsed twice within 24 hours in May which resulted in a reduction of electricity allocation to distribution companies across the country.

On June 30, a fire outbreak at a power substation in Benin, Edo state, led to the total collapse of the grid, making it the ninth total collapse in the year.

The TCN had blamed the system collapse on the massive load rejection by the DisCos.

But the DisCos blamed the frequent collapses on poor protection equipment used for power transmission.

The Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), the umbrella body of the DisCos, said the grid has recorded over 100 partial and total transmission system collapses since the privatisation of the sector in 2013.