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 intensifies efforts to address challenges affecting power generation and transmission.
Tegbe attributed the recent worsening power outages in parts of the country to planned maintenance at Egbin Power Station in Lagos, gas supply shortages to thermal power plants and damage to critical transmission infrastructure.
The minister disclosed this in a statement titled “Update on Power Situation” shared on his Facebook page, acknowledging the hardship caused by the outages in four affected states, including Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory.
He explained that the maintenance at Egbin, which contributes about 16 per cent of electricity on the national grid, had reduced available power generation, forcing grid operators to implement load shedding in some areas.
Tegbe said his ministry was working with relevant operators to restore affected generating units in phases, improve gas supply and accelerate repairs to damaged infrastructure.
Meanwhile, the electricity crisis has triggered a disagreement between the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and Ikeja Electric over the causes of recent power interruptions.
TCN, in a statement on Friday, faulted Ikeja Electric’s claim that grid instability was responsible for outages recorded on November 3 and 4, attributing the decline in electricity supply to inadequate gas for thermal power stations and reduced hydroelectric generation.
The transmission company maintained that it could only transmit electricity generated and made available to it, insisting that the Nigerian Independent System Operator had not identified any transmission network failure as the cause of the outages.
TCN further attributed 68 per cent of interruptions on feeders supplying Ikeja Electric to load shedding caused by low power generation, while 26 per cent resulted from alleged non-compliance with load allocations, distribution network faults and maintenance.
The remaining six per cent, according to the company, was linked to planned maintenance, switching operations and transmission line limitations.
