The Nation Newspaper

Tag: power supply

  • Power supply now 4,029.83Mw

    Power supply now 4,029.83Mw

    Energy sent out by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) at the weekend hit 4,029.83megawatts (Mw), it was learnt yesterday.

    Federal Ministry of Power in its Power Statistics of Sunday 30th August, showed that power supply leaped by 32.02Mw from the last statistics of August 25.

    Of the total energy generated in the period under review, the  company recorded 87.9Mw spinning  reserve or stranded energy which it  could not wheel  to the electricity distribution companies.

    This information was obtained form its website yesterday. It added that the peak power generation that was 4,810.7Mw on August 25 slumped to  4,516.5Mw on Sunday.

    It also noted that Energy Generation  rose to 4,117.73Mw from the last record of  4,080.86Mw.

    Highest peak power generation in the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) was the 4,810.7 Mw of August  25.

    There has been significant increase in the electricity supply to customers, which most consumers have described as the usual ploy of electricity distribution  companies when they are preparing to dispatch their monthly  bills.

    The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had recently decided that the Discos’ fixed charge should now be proportional to energy charge. The Nation could not however confirm whether the adjustment was effected in the August bill or whether it would commence in September.

  • Manufacturers, others laud Buhari on improved power supply

    Manufacturers, others laud Buhari on improved power supply

    •Seek privatisation of Transmission Company

    Manufacturers acting under the aegis of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), commercial and residential consumers of electricity, have praised President Muhammadu Buhari  over  current improvement in power supply in the country. They urged the government to sustain the tempo and improve on it.

    Major consumers of electricity in the country including the industrial, commercial and residential customers that spoke with The Nation lauded the improvment, saying it will lead to job creation.

    The manufacturers that fall under the industrial or maximum demand customers consume the greatest volume of electricity. At the time of very low generation and supply that category of consumers depended solely on generators.

    President of MAN, Dr Frank Jacobs confirmed that power supply has really improved. He told The Nation that his members are excited over the development, and urged President Buhari to sustain and improve the supply.

    He said: “Most of our members that I spoke to on this issue confirmed that there has been significant improvement in electricity supply unlike in the past when we may not have electricity for some days.

    “I will like to advise the government not to relax as much is needed to be done. Government should ensure that there is adequate supply of gas, and at very affordable price. This will go a long way to help stabilise the improvement we are witnessing now.

    “The Federal Government should also privatise the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN). This will not only help to fully achieve the goals of privatisation but also help the private firms to invest in that segment of power supply value chain. With the investment from the private sector, the transmission network will be expanded speedily and the problem of system collapses will be drastically reduced.

    “The control of the transmission arm of the power sector by the government is slowing down the attainment of the privatisation goals because of the bureaucratic bottlenecks associated with running public owned and controlled organisations.”

    The Director-General, Nigeria Textile Manufacturers Association (NTMA), Mr. Jaiyeola Olarewaju said power supply has improved but added that much is still required to make the desired impact.

    He said: “Power has improved but not up to 30-40 per cent of our requirement. About 70-80 per cent of the power we use ought to come from the national grid, so we still heavily depend on generators.

    “Even though supply has improved in some places but we still cannot give them pas mark. The Federal Government shouldn’t relent on its efforts to supply adequate supply to the industrial sector. Government should also look at the private companies that bought the successor companies of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). The investors whose companies are not doing the right thing should forefeit their licences.”

    Some artisans including welders, hair dressers, barbing salon operators at Berger and Ikeja in Lagos who spoke to The Nation also confirmed that supply has improved and has boosted their business. Operators  of cold rooms at Ijora and Oshodi said the hours of supply has improved but they still complement with their personal generators.

    The increase in generation at Egbin Power plant is responsible for the huge improvement witnessed in Lagos State and its environs. The power plant a few months ago, was generating below 500 megawatts (Mw) but currently it generates over 1050Mw.

    The Chairman, Egbin Power Plc, Mr. Kola Adesina said the improvement being witnessed is part of the benefits and success of the privatisation process and power sector reform in Nigeria. He attributed the achievement partly to the direct intervention of the Federal Government in its determination to resolve the power crisis, which has resulted in recent improvement in gas supply.

    “This is driving the increase in power supply in the nation, boosting socio-economic development. Prior to this, we had invested heavily and had the plant ready to generate power at full capacity but there was no gas to do so. This is indeed a good development for the power sector in Nigeria,” he said. He commended the government for the intervention in the gas situation that has impacted on power generation positively, and called for more dynamic policies and incentives for sustainable gas supply across the nation.

    Its Chief Executive Officer, Dallas Peavey said the transformation in Egbin commenced following its acquisition by Kepco Energy Resource Limited (KERL), in collaboration with its technical partners, Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO).

  • Improved power supply excites lawmaker

    The Senator representing Enugu-East senatorial zone, Gilbert Nnaji has expressed optimism that the perennial problem of epileptic power supply in the country would soon be over.

    He spoke to reporters in Enugu, saying the improved power supply in the area would positively impact on businesses in the zone.

    “For us in the Southeast, power is a major issue; what it involves is so much, PDP government privatised the sector and that is why we are witnessing uninterrupted power supply today in some parts of the country especially in Enugu and the adjoining states.

    “Former President Jonathan started very well, though he didn’t achieve what he intended to achieve…For two weeks now I’ve been in Enugu since we went on recess but I can tell you that power has been stable. I want to commend EEDC and its chairman for what they have done.  I’ve called him to commend him for what they have done, the way they’ve transformed power supply and distribution in the Southeast zone.

    “Unlike in Abuja, especially at Apo Legislative Quarters where we live,  you don’t see power for 24 hours, here in Enugu,  it’s different.  Power doesn’t stay in Abuja for 5 minutes. EEDC has done very well. If you have trasformer problem, they easily replace it. There is this portable transformer they have even introduced. They usually mount them on poles, making it impossible to be vandalised and it’s so helpful,” he said.

    The lawmaker further noted that former President Jonathan had good intentions for the country, lamenting, however, that the past administration was seriously sabotaged by unseen forces. He therefore advised President Muhammadu Buhari to be mindful of the people that flock around him in order not to repeat the same mistakes made by the last administration.

    “Jonathan was seriously sabotaged in so many aspects; both in power, petroleum and even in the election. PDP sabotaged themselves, we lost the election as a result of that. President Buhari is an action man, he’s a no-nonsense man and we believe that he will change things for the better, very straightforward,  Nigerians have to give him time and support in order to effect the much needed change,” he said.

  • ‘Why power supply is epileptic’

    ‘Why power supply is epileptic’

    Government agencies, including Armed Forces and ministries owed electricity distribution companies over N1.4billion as at last February, the Acting Managing Director of Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC), Bolanle Onagoruwa, has stated.

    Onagoruwa, who spoke at the West Africa Power Summit, which ended in Lagos, last week said Armed Forces alone owed over N1.3billion of the total debt.

    According to her, the Army’s debts to DISCOs stood at over N1.2billion as at the period under review.

    The Police Force came second with almost N92million electricity debt followed by the Air Forces with a little over N53million and the Navy with N10.5million.

    Electricity debts, she said, by other government agencies stood at over N30million with the Prisons leading the pact with close to N11million.

    The Ministry of Interior owed N8.2million followed by Ministries of Finance and Health with close to N3million debt each.

    Justice owed over N1.3million while education had a debt profile of over N900, 000.

    Such mounting debts, Onagoruwa stated, have been hampering the operations of DISCOs and power distribution across the nation.

    According to her: “DISCOs want to offer more power to customers but how can we when we are owed so much? These outstanding debts are a major clog in the wheel of our progress.”

    She listed other challenges facing DISCOs as inadequate transmission network, low gas supply and difficult collections owing to lack of customer enumeration, inadequate metering, ghost workers, ghost fending, fraudulent ex-NEPA staff, aggressive neighbourhood and power theft.

    Onagoruwa also lamented low power supply affect electricity distribution firms. “When we don’t get enough power, it is difficult to distribute power enough to customers,” she stressed.

    IBEDC, for example, needs a minimum of 1,000 Mega Watts (MW) daily but she said: “we get 300 MW daily or sometimes 250 MW.

    “Until we sort out the issue of generation, we would have a lot in our hands,” she stressed.

    On what IBEDC has achieved, Onagoruwa said the firm has installed 52,041 meters between May 2014 and June, 2015.

  • ‘How Buhari can improve power supply’

    ‘How Buhari can improve power supply’

    The Special Adviser (Technical) to former Minister of State for Power, Mr. Darius Dickson Ishaku, and Managing Director/CEO of Mayok Engineering Works Limited, Chief Abayomi Awodipe, charts a roadmap on how President Muhammadu Buhari can solve the power problem. EMEKA UGWUANYI reports.

    Solving the power sector problems is not rocket science,  Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mayok Engineering Works Limited, Chief Abayomi Awodipe, has said.

    Awodipe is not new to the sector. He has handled challenging jobs in the sector in several parts of the world while working with world’s leading power equipment and facilities manufacturer, General Electric (GE) of United States.

    Awodipe, who has completed a blueprint on fixing the power sector that would be sent to President Muhammadu Buhari, listed steps the government could take to tackle Nigeria’s power supply issues.

    He said Buhari should set up a committee of experts, about 20 per cent of whom should be politicians and others power in generation, transmission and distribution, stating that  the  President should ask them to set  a goal in the sector and  that they sholud be alotted a time frame within which to fix the ills of the power sector.

    ‘’They should state what they will do in six months, one year and two years to stop this power problem. That committee must not be political and may not even be visible, but they will be doing a lot of work. The terms of reference must centre on how to improve power, and ensure  uninterruptible power in Nigeria,’’ he said.

    He said the committee’s programme must be such that will deliver 5,000 megawatts (MW) within the next six months to Nigerians. The committee must also look at the distribution system, which he described as rickety.

    He said  there are technical issues in each of the departments – generation, transmission and distribution, adding that all the technical issues must be resolved toward achieving this output. The only way Nigerians can be happy is to see above 5,000MW and if possible 10,000MW. They must ask for another 5000MW in two years and in the next 10 years, get 10,000MW. Nigeria has 46 power plants and the machines are already there, why can’t these machines work?’’

    Awodipe advised the Federal Government to compel all the generation stations to operate efficiently and produce 80 per cent of their installed capacities, and that  anything short of that, the management of such companies should be queried.

    He recommended that the government should create a code of conduct for contractors handling power projects. According to him, many contractors have come to the sector and left without doing the job not just in the power sector but in the entire economy. For instance, how many contractors are handling NIPP projects, how many have finished? he asked.

    “I was the chairman of the committee of abandoned power equipment at the ports. My committee recovered about 400 containers of power equipment. For eight months I was busy running to and fro the ports and delivering the NIPP transformers and materials with the army, so they can finish these projects. How many contractors went to the ports? They only tell you the Customs didn’t allow them. The small transformers you see installed all over the place are of the abandoned equipment. If there was an effective code of conduct, such actions wouldn’t happen,” Awodipe said.

    He advised the government to adopt regional grid system as against the national grid system.

    He said the national grid system is wasteful and uneconomic because every power generated is sent to the transmission centre where it is allocated to various parts of the country and in the process of transmission to places far away from the centre at Osogbo, a lot of power is lost. The losses are worsened by the weak and unstable transmission network. Therefore, with regional grid system, power generated would not travel long distances before utilisation.

    ‘’How many of them have been punished for not performing? When the month ends, they get their salaries. Now that the power sector has been privatised, I have reservation because privatisation means results. But, are we getting results? If we are not getting results, who will be blamed? All these are the questions the government must ask,’’ he said.

    On revenue loss, I must tell you that Nigeria loses a lot of money. America generates 750,000MW every day, South Africa about 70,000MW, and Nigeria hit a peak of 4000MW and has been dropping ever since, what does that mean? For every 1MW we fail to generate, we lose N1 billion per day. If you have 1MW, multiply it with N8 per kilowatt/hour, you see how much money you will get.

    On the calls for review of the privatised generation and distribution assets, Awodipe said the privatisation was okay, but unfortunately, privatisation means results and Nigerians are not seeing the results almost two years into the privatisation.

    He said: “The privatisation was good, but the only thing is that we jumped it. What could have been done first was to commercialise them (the power assets) and privatisation will follow later. By commercialisation, I mean the government would have been able to know how feasible and financially viable those assets it wants to sell are. We didn’t look at the viability of each plant or distribution company we sold. Ughelli that has 900MW capacity was only generating 200MW when it was sold. The government didn’t bring the machines or the stations to the viability point of 60-80 per cent. In that sense, the buyers have now seen that what were sold to them are not profitable and they are having problems in generating fund to keep what they bought running.

    “They have a legitimate reason but they should have known that before they bought them, so it is nobody’s business. What I advise the new government is to call a roundtable with the buyers, let them have their own independent studies on where the assets were before they bought them, what they have done in two years and the way forward. Let the new government do that quickly and invite those that bought it, tell them we know where we were when we sold it, we know what you have done and this is where we want you to be. Can you meet it or not? If you cannot meet it, we can find somebody who can do it. It is as simple as that. That is my advice. It un-businesslike and might cause a lot of disenfranchisement or even breakdown of the power sector completely if the privatisation is reversed, but it needs a lot of dialogue and review with those that understand the sector. ‘’

    “No buyer has added one single thing since they bought it. No station has increased by one megawatt since they bought it and no distribution company has installed anything. Even in my street, we conducted a study and discovered we need a transformer but had to buy it by ourselves because the utility firm refused to bring it. There is actually a lacuna but I advice it is not reversed.

    On Ajaokuta Steel Company, Awodipe advised that the government shouldn’t start something it wouldn’t finish.

    “Secondly, we change contractors unduly because of political interests. Our iron and steel technology is a Russian technology. I believe the solution to that Ajaokuta is to bring the original manufacturers. There is nothing you can do when you change the contractor handling a project. You don’t hold a new contractor responsible for output issues and this is political. The politicians have to take responsibility for failed technology and industries that we have. That industry will not see the light of the day until we bring the original manufacturers to come and help us to complete it and also unleash on them our Nigerian engineers. We have brilliant Nigerian engineers all over the world and we have failed to tap that. Who knows that I was in GE until I came to Nigeria? I was all over the world – in South America, Saudi Arabia, Europe, among others. Who knew when I came to Nigeria in 1976, that there was a Nigerian who was commissioning turbines all over the world? We have Nigerians that can help solve the problem of the power sector but the government has to encourage those who have gone out to get the technology by involving them in the scheme of things,” he added.

     

     

     

     

  • Aba residents protest poor power supply

    Indigenes and other residents of Umule, one of the Communities in Aba North Local Government Area were on Monday joined by shop owners located within Azikiwe, Tenant road and other adjourning streets in the commercial hub of Abia State using power supply from the public source to march round the city in protect against epileptic power supply by the service providers.

    The protesters in a peaceful protest that lasted for more than three hours marched through major streets in Aba with different placards with inscriptions; No light, no pay, Give us light, we want pre-paid meters, we are ready to pay. We can no longer refrigerate our soup, EEDC, why are you maltreating Umule residents? Please be fair to us, among others said that it has become necessary that they let the world know what they have been suffering in the hands of the southeast electricity managers since the month of January when they had power supply this year.

    Some of them who spoke to our Aba correspondent lamented that though that they have not had power supply in the last five months, officials of EEDC have continued to print and distribute fabricated and overestimated electricity bills on monthly basis and would proceed to disconnect and made away with their electricity cables after rebuffing entreaties to explain the peculiarity of their case in the last 5months.

    Mr. Kingsley Ofoegbu, a resident of Umule speaking in an interview disclosed that over 40 transformers within the Umule community were affected by the situation.

    Ofoegbu accused EEDC staff of billing them inaccurately as he alleged “some of their staff in charge of reading meters doesn’t do it. We have our meters and they are in good conditions till date. But what they do is that they (marketers) will sit in their office and send to us estimated electricity bills. Some of us pay as much as N15, 000 a month and yet we don’t see light.

    “The day that they will try to bring it, it will not stay up to 5hours, they will take it. We don’t have light up to 4times in a month and yet we pay such a heavy amount of money on electricity that we didn’t see nor use and because of the situation that we find ourselves, we spend more that N3, 000 every month fueling our generators which is not unfair and an act of wickedness. We are tired of EEDC deceit and that is why we want them to know that we are no longer going to be fools anymore. In this condition that we are now, anybody that will come to Umule to come and cut light will sign his or her death warrant before coming”, he warned.

    Some shop owners at Azikiwe and its surrounding including Mr. Chidiebere described the services of EEDC in Aba as very poor, wondering why the independent power project of Prof. Barth Nnaji was yet to commence operation “even when we learnt that the place have been completed since 2013”.

    Chidiebere who blamed management of EEDC of sabotaging the distribution of pre-paid meters in Aba expressed optimism that problem of electricity supply and overbilling electricity consumers would be solved once and for all in Aba if the Osisioma Geometric Power project was allowed to serve as a credible and alternative means of power supply and distribution to save businesses from further collapsing in the commercial city.

    The shop owners threatened to hold “a more serious protest in Aba if the power situation in Aba did not improve in the next 28 days”.

    An EEDC official who spoke anonymously attributed the shortage of electricity supply to the drop in the mega watts from the national grid, promising that their services would improve as soon as the situation at national improves.

    On crazy billing of customers, the staff said that they were also working to ensure that the situation was addressed and called on Aba residents and its environs to exercise patients with them even as the management of the Electricity Distribution Company thank them for their support and patronage.

  • ‘Erratic power supply crippling cinema business’

    Epileptic power supply has been identified as the major problem affecting the growth of cinema business in the country.

    The Managing Director of 5D Cinema 9ja, Mr Kayode Owolabi, who spoke at the inauguration of the five-dimensional (5D) Cinema in Surulere, Lagos, said power failure should be addressed as it imposed significant costs on cinema business.

    According to him, the envisioned growth of the cinema industry and the economy cannot be achieved without improved electricity supply.

    “We hope that President Muhammadu Buhari will treat the issue of power supply as one of topmost priority to enhance the growth of cinema business in the country,” he said.

    Owolabi described 5D Cinema as a multi-dimensional digital technology. It is more advanced than 3D and 4D. It has technology, such as rain, smoke, lathing, air bubbles and sunlight, he said.

    This 5D technology, he said, is different from the conventional cinema because viewers are part of the actions.

    “The 5D experience is a computer technology that makes movie as interactive as possible. The cinematic technology is a relatively new experience in Nigeria and holds great promise for the digital entertainment in the country.

    “The cinema will be opened throughout the day for families, groups and lovers who love recreation and adventures. The technology is open to everyone to experience. However, certain restrictions are to be emphasised. Children below the age of four, pregnant women and hypertensive adults cannot see the movies as it is not medically advisable for them,” he said.

    He said a movie under 5D technologies usually runs between seven to 12 minutes.

    “The 5D technology is perfect for families and tourists who want to enjoy the innovations in digital cinematic entertainment,” he said.

     

  • Power supply hits 3,281.84MW

    Power supply hits 3,281.84MW

    Power supply by the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) last Monday was 3,281.84 Megawatts (MW).

    But 77.4MW was stranded from the 3,359.24MW, which the generation companies produced.

    The Federal Ministry of Power stated this on its website yesterday, indicating that the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) could not evacuate 77.4MW.

    The power statistics indicated that the electricity market hit a peak generation of 3,691MW same day.

    It added that power generation increased by 194.63MW from 3,164.61MW of June 2 to the current 3,359.24MW.

    The ministry noted that power supply increased by 190MW from the 3,091.72MW of June 2 to Monday’s 3,281.84MW.

    In the period under review, peak energy generated in the electricity market leaped from 3,537.2MW of June 2 to 3,691MW on Monday.

    The peak energy generation increased by 153.8MW in the period under review.

  • Power supply now 3,085.77Mw

    The Ministry of Power yesterday resumed the publication of its power statistics on its website after the last publication of May 11, noting that power supply was 3,085.77megawatts (Mw) on May 31.

    It withheld the publication because  the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) recorded an abysmal power generation, transmission and distribution over the last  three weeks.

    The period was characterised by no gas supply owing to an oil workers’ strike and shortage of water for the hydro power plants.

    The electricity market dwindled to a record of 727Mw  supply as 18 of the 21 power plants were shut down following the strike.

    Former Minister of Power   Chinedu  Nebo had  explained that the dip in power supply was inevitable, since up to 70 per cent of generation was coming from gas-fired stations, pending the harvest of electricity from the work already done by the government and private sector investors on new hydro-power plants and other renewables.

  • Power supply collapses

    Power supply collapses

    Over 2,000MW lost

    Gas shortage cripples 18 power plants 

    Blackout in Lagos, Oyo, Ekiti, Ondo, Ogun, Abuja, Niger, others

    NIGERIANS were yesterday told to brace for more hardship – power supply will get worse.

    A terrible fuel shortage has shut down cities and businesses, forcing many who cannot afford the high transport fares to trek.

    As the government and fuel marketers battled yesterday in Abuja to resolve the problem, the news was broken that power supply had fallen to 727 Mega Watts (MW) – no thanks to the Sunday system collapse at the Shiroro Power Plant. Power Supply was 1,327 Mega Watts (MW) last week – a far cry from the 200,000MW Nigeria requires.

    Shiroro is a 600MW hydro electric plant on River Kaduna in Shiroro, Niger State.

    Abuja, Kogi, Nasarawa and Niger states are experiencing an unprecedented load shedding. The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) has only 15 Mega Watts (MW). Residents are grumbling.

    “Up to about 18.50hours (or 6.50pm), only sensitive installations within the Central Business District of Abuja are on electricity supply,” a source said.

    The electricity supply became critical in Ogun, Ekiti, Osun and Ondo states in the last one week.

    In the last four days, electricity supply in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, has been at the lowest ebb. The city has been in total darkness.

    The scarcity of petroleum products also compounded the crisis as virtually all petrol stations have closed down.

    In some parts of the city including Apata and Odo-Ona, residents said there has been no electricity supply for over two weeks

    The Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) which supplies power to Edo, Ondo and Ekiti states, has been running a jingle on Adaba FM, urging the people to bear with it. According to the jingle, the low supply from the national grid is responsible for the problem.

    Spokesman of BEDC in Ekiti State Mr. Ilori Brown could not be reached on telephone last night.

    Last Thursday, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Power, Ambassador Godknows Igali, was reported to have said that power generation nationwide had dropped from 4,800MW to 1,327MW, leading to the massive load shedding across the country.

    The AEDC has been sending sms to its customers to apologise for the colossal drop in supply.

    The source added: “ You may also have received my company’s apology via a Bulk SMS we sent out to GSM subscribers in FCT, Kogi, Nasarawa and Niger states, in which we explained the cause of the huge drop in supply to our customers, in view of the heavy drop in allocation to AEDC from the national grid, from about 450MW daily to less than 200MW in recent times.

    “In fact, our allocation for Friday, May 22, 2015 was 145MW, while both Saturday and Sunday, May 23 and 24, 2015, was 115.6MW. And the situation has been worsened by the system collapse at Shiroro this evening, which brought our supply down to 15MW.”

    Also yesterday, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) said 18 of the 23 power plants in the country are unable to produce electricity due to shortage of gas supply for the thermal plants.

    NERC chairman Dr. Sam Amadi said : “At present, 18 of the 23 power plants in the country are unable to generate electricity due to shortage of gas supply to the thermal plants with one of the hydro stations faced with water management issue. This has led to loss of over 2,000 megawatts in the national grid.”

    According to him, in the last couple of months, electricity supply has been generally poor on account of increase in vandalism in the run-up to the April 2015 elections.

    But this bad supply condition, he said,  has worsened in the last few days.

    The chairman noted that the  situation is compounded by the recent industrial actions embarked upon by workers in the oil and gas industry, a development which is taking a toll on other sectors of the economy.

    He said gas supplies to the thermal plants had been further constrained by the industrial action in the oil and gas sector.

    The statement reads in part: “The Commission had proactively engaged the gas supply companies and its licencees when two weeks ago discussion was held on how to firm up gas supply in order to increase power supply.

    Unfortunately, not much progress was made through this meeting as NNPC and its subsidiary Nigeria Gas Company, disclosed of high incidence of vandalism in some areas that were relatively peaceful along its pipeline networks.

    “That meeting was told of the damage done to Trans-Forcados pipeline in the western axis and elps gas pipeline in the eastern axis. Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation had explained at the meeting that repair works are being intensified even as it expressed worry on the integrity of the pipelines on account of incessant damage it has sustained.

    “In essence, what has brought about this development is the increased incidence of vandalism which is beyond the control of the regulator and the industry operators. This situation is further compounded by the industry actions declared by the oil and gas workers.

    “However, we have continued to engage with relevant authorities on how fast we can address shortage of gas supply to the thermal plants. We are also engaging with the industry operators on how to improve electricity supply.

    “The Commission regrets the hardship which Nigerians are being subjected to on account of this development as we intensify efforts to bring the situation under control in the shortest possible time.”

    Banks in the North and GSM companies sent messages on either likely disruption of service or early closure of operations.

    Some of the banks which shut out customers at about 1pm are GTB, Skye and Fidelity.

    But the Board and Management of Jos Electricity Distribution company attributed the outage to zero allocation of power from the Grid.

    Of the 19 states in the North, , about 10 and the FCT are experiencing outage.

    But some of the worst-hit states are Niger, Plateau, Bauchi, Nasarawa, Gombe, Benue and the FCT.

    As of 8pm, both the transmission and distribution companies managing some parts of the North attributed the outage to a system collapse which has resulted in  zero allocation of power from the Grid.

    The Board and Management of Jos Electricity Distribution Plc (JED PLC) and the Mainstream Energy Solutions Limited, Concessionaires of Kainji and Jebba Power Plants have, however, called for calm.

    The Board and Management of Jos Electricity Distribution Plc (JED PLC) said: “We would like to appeal to our valued customers to remain calm in the face of the dwindling power supply currently experienced all over the country.

    “The Company is doing everything possible to ensure quality service and customer satisfaction in the delivery of electricity to the customers.

    “The company in the last few days has experienced total blackout throughout the Distribution Network following a system collapse that resulted in a zero allocation of power from the Grid.

    “Over the past few months, we have engaged the system operator on improved power supply or at least our entitled load allocation in the  Multi- Year Tariff Order (MYTO).

    “While we thank you for your understanding and patience in this trying period, we wish to assure you that we are doing everything humanly possible to improve the quality of service to our customers.

    “We further call on our esteemed customers to ensure timely payment of their bills to enable us discharge our obligations to the market operator and its customers.”

    Reacting, the Mainstream Energy Solutions Limited said: “Our attention has been drawn to reports by a section of the media to the effect that the Power System Collapse which occurred around 4pm on Sunday, 24th May, 2015 occasioning outage in Abuja and other parts of the country was caused by a breakdown at Jebba Hydro Electric Power Station.

    “It has become necessary to enlighten the Nigerian public and to set the records straight.

    “Mainstream Energy Solutions Limited, Concessionaires of Kainji and Jebba Power Plants, wish to state clearly that there has been no breakdown at Kainji and Jebba plants.

    “Precisely, Jebba Plant has 5nos. Generating Units with combined available capacity of 400MW, while Kainji has 4nos. Generating Units with combined available capacity of 305 MW.

    “As at the time the system collapse occurred, the generating Units were on the National Grid. The Units Separated due to the National Grid failure.

    “It should also be noted that effort has been made by the National Control Center to Black Start the System using Kainji Power Plant. Kainji and Jebba Power Plants remain available to supply power as soon as the National grid is restored.

    “Finally, since Mainstream Energy Solutions Limited took over Kainji and Jebba plants in November, 2013, the company has not only stabilised operations of the power plants but has also increased generation capacity of the plants despite various frustrations.”