Electricity consumers in Nigeria’s southeast are calling on the federal government to establish a second national transmission network to curb recurring grid collapses.
The Electricity Consumers Association of Nigeria (ECAN), representing the five southeastern states, said communities served by Aba Power Electric Limited in Abia State were unaffected by Wednesday’s nationwide blackout.
“The nine LGAs in the Aba Ring-fenced Area did not experience the national grid collapse because they draw power from the 188MW Geometric Power Plant in Osisioma,” ECAN chairman Joe Ubani and secretary Chris Okpara said in a statement.
Aba Power, a subsidiary of the Geometric Power group and Nigeria’s 12th distribution company, relies primarily on the Aba plant and only turns to the national grid during gas shortages.
ECAN contrasted this with the 11 legacy DisCos that depend entirely on the ageing national transmission system.
Nigeria was plunged into darkness on Wednesday after a grid collapse, marking the 13th such incident since 2024.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) reported a drop to 20MW nationwide, at about 11:53 a.m.
The restoration of the grid started soon after, with the TCN reporting the transmission of 1,583 MW at 6:35 p.m., out of more than 4,000 MW that the grid can transmit.
