The national grid collapsed yesterday at exactly 10:40am, according to the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC).
The breakdown came up 24 hours after the electricity Generation Companies (GenCos) accused the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) of inefficiency.
In a statement, AEDC Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Donald Etim, notified the company’s consumers that the collapse caused the outage in its franchise areas.
Etim said: “Esteemed Customer, we experienced general outage across AEDC network at 10:40 am today due to a system collapse which occurred on the national grid.
“Appropriate measures are now being taken to restore normal supply as quickly as possible. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience.”
The TCN Public Affairs Manager, Mrs. Ndidi Mbah, however, did not answer the phone calls made by The Nation. Neither did she respond to the text message sent to her on the matter.
But, Eko Electricity Distribution Company Limited and Ikeja Electric Plc confirmed the development, which led to blackout in some parts of the country.
The electricity distribution firms said the partial collapse disrupted power supply within their networks.
“Dear esteemed customer, we regret to inform you of a total system collapse on the national grid at 10:40 a.m today (Monday), leading to outages across our network.
“We are closely monitoring the situation with our Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) partners to determine the cause and a timeline for resolution.
“We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience as we will keep you updated on the situation. Thank you for your understanding,” Eko DisCo said in a statement.
Similarly, Mr Felix Ofulue, Head, Corporate Communications, Ikeja Electric Plc, confirmed the development to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
Ofulue said: “There was a report of system collapse at about 10.40 a.m. and it was restored at 12.20 p.m. Our customers were affected but supply has now been restored.”
NAN reports that electricity customers have been counting their losses following the epileptic power supply to their homes and business locations.