Collapse of the power grid on May 8, 2019 threw many homes in darkness. The situation got worse in many parts of the country. Viewpoint Housing News went to the streets of Abuja, asking residents how they fared under the blackout.
A lady that preferred to be anonymous said, “In my area, Kurudu, Catholic church area, there hasn’t been electricity for the past eight days and this has been of great pain to me in particular.
“I have a small business. I can’t continue running the business because people don’t come to buy drinks again knowing that the drinks are not cold.
“I buy ice block at the rate of N150 and before you know, it defrosts due to the weather condition. Even the cooked food I had in the freezer all got bad and was thrashed.
“One of my major issues is over billing by AEDC [Abuja Electricity Distribution Company] without a stable power supply. This is cheating!
“How can a studio apartment that has no air conditioner, no electric cooker pay the sum of N2,000 every month? This is not fair!
“All I’m seeking from the government is to make sure that we have better supply and our tariffs be reduced because I cannot see any good that this privatization has done us.
“I would rather say I prefer it when government was in charge of NEPA [National Electric Power Authority]. Government needs to take back NEPA.”
Mr Steven Patrick a resident of Kubwa said, “Honestly speaking, this light issue has been of great concern to us.
“We are used to epileptic power supply but as I speak to you, there has been no electricity since Saturday.
“There is something they call 33KVA and 11KVA. The people on 33KVA enjoy supply while those on 11KVA don’t get.
“When it gets to the time for bills to be distributed and time for disconnection of power, that is the only time we get to see supplies. After these periods, we are back to no supply.
“This is not right. This affects my life! As I speak to you, this shirt I am wearing, I had to repeat it because no power to iron clothes.
“I am appealing to the government to come to our aid and restore good power supply. Epileptic power supply damages properties.”
Miss Habeeba, a chef who lives in the Federal Housing Estate, Lugbe: “There hasn’t been electricity for four days — total blackout and it has affected me in person and also affected my business.
“So many things are bad in the freezer and there has been no electricity to work. My orders are pending and this is very bad.
“The government needs to find a way to resolve this issue. If they can’t give us electricity for 24 hours, then they should at least give us for six hours everyday because many business owners are into debts due to this issue. It has spoilt a lot of things.”
Mr Aliyu from Mpape Gwari village said, “Once rain falls for one day, AEDC will spend two to three days to restore power.
“This is not good. We are just in the early months of the rainy season. This shouldn’t go on like this.
“It’s affecting us because we all need light. The government promised us she’s taking back power so we are eagerly waiting for that.”
Viewpoint Housing News spoke with the PRO of AEDC, Mr Oyebode. He said the shortage of electricity emanated from breakdown in transmission.
He explained, “As a result of that, it was impossible for us to please all our customers across the country.
“It was a major challenge and that was why we couldn’t deliver.
“We can’t by-pass transmission. Power comes from generation to transmission and from transmission to distribution.
“If there is no power coming from transmission then it is impossible for us to transmit power to satisfy our customers. That was the main reason…”
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) said the collapse of the National Grid was caused by a multiple tripping on its substation in Onitsha, Anambra.
The Managing Director of TCN, Mr Mohammed Usman made the disclosure at a news conference in Abuja on Friday.
The national electricity grid had on Wednesday, experienced some disturbances resulting in reduction of electricity allocation to electricity distribution companies in the country.
Mohammed also said that the collapse might also have been triggered because one of the generators went off.
