National Electric Grid: NERC Issues Fresh Update on Power Supply
- Good news for Nigerians as the country's electricity regulatory commissions have announced the return of improved power supply from Friday, July 1
- The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) made the announcement on Wednesday, July 15
- NERC however revealed that the incessant power outage was due to poor maintenance, low supply of gas and vandalism
FCT, Abuja - The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has issued fresh updates to Nigerians amid to persisting collapse of the national electric grid.
As reported by Daily Nigerian, the chairman of NERC, Sanusi Garba said Nigerians will witness improved power supply in the coming days.
Source: Twitter
Sanusi said renewed efforts by industry stakeholders have helped with an intervention that will see Nigerians have a steady power supply from Friday, July 1.
Speaking to newsmen on Wednesday, June 15, Sanusi revealed that it held a meeting with the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry, (NESI).
PAY ATTENTION: Subscribe to Digital Talk newsletter to receive must-know business stories and succeed BIG!
Legit.ng gathered that officials of the NERC, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Generation Companies as well electricity Distribution Companies were all in attendance.
NERC signs pact with Gencos, Discos, others
It was gathered that the meeting was facilitated by the NERC in which a pact was signed with Gencos, TCN and the 11 DisCos that would guarantee the generation, transmission and distribution of an average of 5,000MW of electricity daily to customers effective July 1.
Sanusi said:
“Yes, we have had discussions with the gas suppliers within our regulatory space. We have them on board to ensure that once we made the commercial requirements, gas was going to flow.
“Now, for transmission we have heard of figures well in excess of 5,000MW and clearly TCN will be able to deliver that.
“I recall clearly in March last year we had 5,400MW. So, it means it is quite possible based on signed commitments.”
He said all the stakeholders across the value chain had obligations and there would be consequences if they failed to deliver.
“So, in a situation where Gencos are able to deliver 5,000MW but TCN is unable to do so, they’ll pay the penalty to the generation company and so on.
“And whenever the power is available and DisCos do not take the power; then they will pay liquidated damages that will compensate other market participants.
“We might not have 24/7 power supply from July 1 but Nigerians will see the trajectory because the target is to have an average of 5,000MW daily for transmission and distribution.”
Low gas supply reason for national grid collapse - NERC
While reacting to the incessant collapse of the national electric grid, Sanusi revealed that the low supply of gas was the main reason.
Read also
Abuja, Lagos, other cities in darkness as national grid collapses again, Nigerians lash out
He also revealed that poor maintenance and issues of vandalism has been one of the shortcomings in supplying adequate electricity to Nigerians.
Sanusi said:
“The challenges of today are very clear. In the past, it used to be weak infrastructure and so on and so forth. Now we have certain external factors contributing to these events.
“Obviously, it’s not common around the world to see people coming down, pulling down transmission towers for no reason; or blowing up crude oil lines.
“In a number of instances, most of the gas we have today is associated gas and because of that when crude lines are disrupted it also affects the supply of gas to the thermal stations.”
He, however, paid tribute to the federal government and the central bank of Nigeria for their intervention in salvaging the power sector.
Electricity distribution companies apologise to Nigerians over poor power supply
Meanwhile, power distribution companies have taken to social media to apologise to Nigerians, businesses on the latest grid collapse.
This was due to the recent collapse of the national electric grid suffered by Nigerians in most parts of the country.
The collapse had worsened the blackout in Lagos and some other parts of the country with the whole south-east states affected.
Atiku suffers backlash after comment on collapsed national grid
In another development, the presidential flag bearer of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar took to his social media to criticise the government for its failure in the frequent collapse of the national grid.
This is coming after the recent collapse of Nigeria's national electric grid, there is a blackout across major cities in the country.
However, Atiku's criticism was greeted with a lot of negative reactions as Nigerians took to his comment section to slam him for being a part of the failure when he was vice president.
Source: Legit.ng
