The Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, has assured Nigerians that electricity supply will begin to improve within 48 to 72 hours as the Federal Government moves to tackle generation and transmission constraints responsible for recent outages across parts of the country.
Tegbe attributed the worsening power situation to planned maintenance at Egbin Power Station in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest thermal power plant, which accounts for about 16 per cent of electricity supplied to the national grid.
The minister disclosed this in a statement titled ‘Update on Power Situation’, published on his Facebook page on Friday.
“I am aware of the strain that the current outages have placed on households and businesses in four affected states, including Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory.
“Planned maintenance at Egbin Power Station and constraints in gas supply to some thermal power stations have reduced the amount of electricity available on the national grid. Grid operators have, therefore, implemented load shedding in some areas to manage the shortfall,” he said.
He added that the sabotage of critical transmission lines had limited the availability of alternative routes for electricity distribution to some areas, particularly Lagos.
Tegbe said his ministry was working with relevant power sector operators to restore affected generating units in phases, improve gas supply and speed up repairs to damaged infrastructure.
“My team and I are working to return the affected generating units to service in phases, with the first units coming back online within the next 48 to 72 hours.
“We are also working with operators to improve gas supply and accelerate repairs to the damaged infrastructure,” he added.
The assurance comes amid growing complaints from electricity consumers in Lagos and Ogun states over prolonged blackouts, which residents say have made the prevailing hot weather increasingly unbearable.
TCN, Ikeja Electric trade blame over outages
Meanwhile, the power crisis has sparked a disagreement between the Transmission Company of Nigeria and Ikeja Electric over the causes of recent electricity supply interruptions.
TCN, in a statement on Friday, disputed Ikeja Electric’s claim that grid instability was responsible for outages recorded on November 3 and 4.
Instead, the transmission company blamed inadequate gas supply to thermal power stations and reduced hydroelectric generation for the decline in electricity available for distribution.
TCN described Ikeja Electric’s explanation as inaccurate and misleading, arguing that the distribution company had wrongly attributed generation-related shortfalls to the transmission network.
“TCN can only transmit the energy made available to it and cannot transmit energy that is not generated,” the company said.
It also maintained that the Nigerian Independent System Operator had not identified any transmission network failure as the cause of the outages.
According to TCN, 68 per cent of the interruptions recorded on feeders supplying Ikeja Electric resulted from frequency-control load shedding caused by inadequate electricity generation.
It attributed another 26 per cent to Ikeja Electric’s alleged failure to comply with allocated load limits, as well as faults and maintenance on its distribution network.
The remaining six per cent, TCN said, resulted from its planned maintenance, switching operations and transmission line limitations.
The disagreement followed an apology by Ikeja Electric to customers on some Band A feeders after it failed to meet the minimum daily electricity supply requirement of 20 hours on November 3 and 4.
In an earlier statement on Thursday, Tegbe had also linked the disruptions to maintenance and operational challenges across the power sector, gas shortages at thermal power stations and reduced output from hydropower plants.
He said the Federal Government was working with the Transmission Company of Nigeria, the Nigerian Independent System Operator and electricity distribution companies to address the constraints and restore normal supply.
