The electricity sector regulatory authority, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), on Saturday raised serious concerns over the recurring collapse of the national grid.
The Commission voiced its concern through a statement posted on its official X (Twitter) handle, @NERCNG, after the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) reported the seventh incidence of grid collapse since the beginning of this year.
On Tuesday, October 14, 2024, TCN reported the occurrence of yet another system collapse at about 6:48 p.m. on Monday. The transmission company described the incidence as a partial disturbance, although several cities across the country were thrown into darkness as normal supply of electricity was disrupted for hours. While the spokesperson of the company, Ndidi Mbah, assured that efforts were ongoing to fully recover the grid, with Azura power station providing the blackstart, she said the recovery process suffered another slight setback, with another collapse reported less than 24 hours later at about 9.17 a.m. on Tuesday.
Mbah said the TCN management would carry out an investigation into the cause of the incident immediately the grid was fully restored.
For the power sector regulator, NERC, a record seventh systems collapse since January this year was too concerning to be given such a long period for investigation.
The Commission said it noted with “concern the recent escalating incidence of grid disturbances often leading to marked outage in several states, thus reversing many of the gains recently achieved in reducing infrastructure deficit and improving grid stability.”
Consequently, the Commission announced that in line with the provisions of the Electricity Power Sector Act 2023, the unbundling of the Independent System Operator (ISO) function out of the Transmission Company of Nigeria Plc should considered immediately.
The unbundling process, the regulator explained, was expected to ensure that an ISO would engender more discipline in grid management and optimised investment in infrastructure in the power sector.
To find a permanent resolution to the challenges of the national grid, the Commission said it shall conduct an investigative public hearing shortly with a view to identifying the immediate and remote causes of recurring incidence of grid disturbances and widespread outages across the country.
But electricity consumers who are at the receiving end of the crisis in the national grid are already calling for a review of the consumers categorization by electricity distribution companies based on the number of hours of available supply.
The consumers argue that due to the recurring incidence of grid collapse the volume of electricity available to consumers across the country is hardly up to what they are being made to pay for in the various electricity tariff bands.
Under the current categorization, consumers who enjoy a minimum of 20 hours of electricity supply and above daily are grouped in Band A, who pay the premium tariff rates, while those in Band B are those who enjoy between 16 and 20 hours of electricity supply daily.
With the incessant occurrences of grid collapse, some concerned consumers argue that electricity supply, particularly to consumers in Band A, has been significantly lower in recent times for them to continue to be kept among those paying premium tariff.
Consequently, they demand the regulator to direct the DISCOs to immediately review their categorization of consumers and downgrade them to either Band B or C.
Contributing to the debate, an electricity consumer who goes by the name, Charles Ezra, commented through his X (Twitter handle) @ugochukwu1945: “Those affected in Band A category have to be stepped down immediately and made to buy energy at Band B rate. That’s the very minimum. It’s wicked and callous to increase tariff by 300 percent and see consumers suffer this mindless incompetence. We expect the downgrade immediately.”
Beyond consumers’ categorization downgrade, another contributor, James Agada, with X handle, @jamesagada, wants the regulator to forget about the planned investigative hearing on the causes of the recurring grid collapse and focus on finding solutions to the management and engineering problems facing the system.
“You don’t need any public hearing over the causes of the incessant grid collapse. It is clear the sector has management and engineering problems. And no one is paying any price for these collapses. An independent system operator would not make any difference.
For K.A.M @kentalistic, another online contributor, the solution to the problem is for each state of the Federation to be allowed to start generating their own electricity and supplying to their people through their grid.
For instance, the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja should be allowed to generate power and transmit through its own grid for residents of Abuja only.
“How can the entire nation depend on this our kwashiorkor national grid that collapses all the time?” he asked.
