Businesses hit by power outage as national grid collapses — seventh time in 2022

Nigeria’s electricity grid has collapsed again, causing a blackout and affecting businesses and livelihoods across the nation.

In a message to customers, major electricity distribution companies (DisCos) said the national grid collapsed on Wednesday at about 11 am.

The incident comes 38 days after the national grid suffered a system failure on June 13.

“Dear Customers, we regret to inform you of a system collapse on the National grid at precisely 11:27 am today, Wednesday, July 20th. We are in talks with the Transmission Company of Nigeria to ascertain the cause of the collapse and a possible restoration timeline,” EEDC’s message reads.

Dear Customers, we regret to inform you of a system collapse on the National grid at precisely 11:27am today, Wednesday July 20th. We are in talks with the Transmission Company of Nigeria to ascertain the cause of the collapse and a possible restoration timeline.

— Eko Electricity Distribution Company (@EKEDP) July 20, 2022

Kaduna Electric Distribution Company Plc, also shared a similar message with customers, assuring customers of “normal power supply as soon as possible”.

Power Failure Due To Grid Collapse. pic.twitter.com/EfCnd52pS2

— Kaduna Electric (@Kadunaelectric) July 20, 2022

The discos did not state the cause of the fresh system collapse.

The national grid had collapsed seven times in 2022 — with the last occurring in June. It collapsed twice in March and April 2022.

TheCable had reported that the grid experienced 206 collapses between 2010 and 2019. 

You can read more about what it means when the national grid collapses here.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that the grid collapsed seven and not six times in 2022.