The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has blamed Saturday’s collapse of the national electricity grid on the explosion of a transformer at the Jebba Transmission station in Niger State.
For the third time in a week, and the eighth this year, the national grid suffered complete failure at 8.16 a.m. (local time) on Saturday throwing many homes and businesses in several parts of the country into darkness and gloom.
In its statement, and against outrage by Nigerians over the incessant grid failure, the NERC said it was concerned by the “escalating incidence of grid disturbances” which, it emphasized, was “reversing many of the gains recently achieved in reducing infrastructure deficit and improving grid stability”.
“Initial reports on the grid disturbance that occurred this morning indicate that today’s outage was triggered by an explosion of a current transformer at the Jebba transmission station at 0815hrs and an associated cascade of power plants shut down arising from the loss of load,” the NERC disclosed in the statement on Saturday.
“However, efforts to restore supply have advanced with power significantly restored, as at 1300hrs, in 33 states and the FCT.”
The NERC said it was working to ensure more “discipline in grid management and optimised investment in infrastructure”.
Continuing, the NERC said: “In pursuit of finding a permanent resolution to the challenges of the national grid, the Commission shall shortly conduct an investigative public hearing with a view to identifying immediate and remote causes of recurring incidences of grid disturbances and widespread outages.”.
“The date and venue of the public hearing will shortly be announced in the national dailies and stakeholders are encouraged to participate.”