The Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, has assured Nigerians that electricity supply will begin to improve within the next 48 to 72 hours as the Federal Government works to address 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, as well as gas supply constraints affecting some thermal power plants.
He disclosed this in a statement titled “Update on Power Situation,” posted on his Facebook page on Friday.
The minister acknowledged the impact of the prolonged outages on households and businesses in four affected states, including Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory.
According to him, the maintenance at Egbin Power Station, described as Nigeria’s largest thermal power generating station, alongside gas supply challenges, had reduced the amount of electricity available on the national grid.
He said grid operators were consequently implementing load shedding in some areas to manage the reduced generation.
Tegbe also disclosed that the sabotage of critical transmission lines had limited the use of alternative routes for supplying electricity to some locations, particularly Lagos.
He said the Ministry of Power was working with relevant operators to restore affected generating units in phases, improve gas supply and accelerate 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,” Tegbe said.
Meanwhile, the recent power crisis has triggered a disagreement between the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and Ikeja Electric over the causes of supply interruptions recorded in parts of Lagos.
TCN, in a statement on Friday, rejected Ikeja Electric’s attribution of the November 3 and 4 outages to grid instability, saying inadequate gas supply to thermal power stations and reduced hydroelectric generation were responsible for the decline in available electricity.
The transmission company 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.
TCN further maintained that the Nigerian Independent System Operator had not identified any transmission network failure as the cause of the outages.
According to the transmission company, 68 per cent of interruptions recorded on feeders supplying Ikeja Electric resulted from frequency-control load shedding caused by low generation. It attributed another 26 per cent to alleged non-compliance with load allocations by Ikeja Electric, as well as faults and maintenance on its distribution network.
The remaining six per cent, according to TCN, was linked to planned maintenance, switching operations or 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 affecting thermal power stations and reduced output from hydropower plants.
He said the Federal Government was working with TCN, the Nigerian Independent System Operator and electricity distribution companies to address the constraints and restore normal electricity supply.