Hours after Nigerians were thrown into darkness due to the collapse of the national electricity grid, power supply has been restored nationwide.
The Eko Electricity Distribution Company has announced the development on Thursday, September 14, 2023.
The company in a statement on its X handle affirmed that the national electricity grid had been fixed and power supply had been restored.
“Dear valued customer, kindly be informed that power supply has been restored from the grid. Thank you for your patience,” the statement read.
Recall that the grid collapsed around 12:40 am on September 14, 2023.
Announcing the collapse of the grid, the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company Plc and the Eko Electricity Distribution Company issued a notice in the early hours of Thursday.
This is the first time the grid would collapse in 2023, but according to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), the grid has collapsed 46 times in the last six years.
The grid collapsed weeks after the TCN announced that the nation’s power grid had achieved uninterrupted stability for over 400 consecutive days.
In a tweet published by the company on September 7, 2023, the TCN said the power grid totally collapsed 15 times in 2017, 12 times in 2018 and nine times in 2019.
In 2020, the grid collapsed four times, two times in 2021 and four times in 2022.
However, Nigerians were thrown into blackout more than four times in 2022 due to partial or total collapse of the grid. Also in 2019, the national grid collapsed more than nine times.
Nigeria has a power generating capacity of 22,000 megawatts but the electricity generated is too low given the country’s population.
Meanwhile, President Tinubu has signed the 2023 Electricity Act into law with aim of improving electricity supply in the country.
With the 2023 Electricity Act now in operation, the age-long issue of monopoly in electricity generation, transmission, and distribution at the national level is expected to be addressed.
