By Adewale Sanyaolu
For the sixth time in seven months, the Nigerian national electricity grid collapsed yet again yesterday, throwing major parts of the country into darkness.
As at 5.35pm yesterday, the grid system was yet to be restored.
The Eko Electricity Distribution Company in a notice on its official Twitter Handle confirmed that the grid collapse occurred at about 11:27 am.
The notice reads in part “Dear customers, we regret to inform you of a system collapse on the national grid at precisely 11:27 am today, Wednesday, July 20. We are in talks with the Transmission Company of Nigeria to ascertain the cause of the collapse and a possible restoration timeline. We will keep you updated on the situation,” the DisCo said.
The last grid collapse the fifth in the series this year, occurred on June 13.
The TCN had on Tuesday, alerted Nigerians that power supply will drop by 50 megawatts yesterday, adding that the drop was as a result of planned annual “preventive maintenance” on the line bay at Lekki Transmission Substation in Lagos.
During the maintenance period, TCN said about 50MW will be interrupted, affecting power supply to Lekki phase 1, Oniru, Elegushi, Waterfront, Igbo Efon and Twenty-first Century Estate in Lagos state.
“TCN regrets all inconvenience this might have caused electricity consumers in the affected area,” the statement said.