Written by SpringNewsNG Media Limited March 12, 2025

For the past five days, millions of Nigerians have been left in the dark as a nationwide power outage continues to cripple daily life. However, this is no longer called a ‘grid collapse’ but a ‘grid disturbance,’ according to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

In the bustling streets of Lagos, the hum of generators has become the soundtrack of survival. Small business owners, hospitals, and households are grappling with the high cost of alternative power sources as the national grid remains unreliable. For many, the outage is more than an inconvenience; it’s a threat to livelihoods and lives.

“I run a small bakery, and without electricity, I can’t power my ovens,” said Funke Adebayo, a mother of three in Ikeja. “I have lost over N50,000 worth of perishable goods. How do I explain this to my children? How do we survive?”

So far this year, Nigeria has recorded two official grid disturbances, first on February 12 and the latest on March 7. The term ‘grid disturbance’ is now being used to downplay the effect of partial collapse.

Since March 9, Lagos and Abuja have been experiencing blackouts on different levels, ranging from transmission faults to reduced power allocation, leading to load shedding.

“Why won’t they just tell us the truth?” asked Chinedu Okeke, a taxi driver. “We know it’s a grid collapse. We’ve seen it before. Hiding it doesn’t solve the problem. It just makes us lose trust in the system.”

As the outage persists, social media has become a platform for frustration, with hashtags trending as citizens voice their grievances.

Late Sunday, March 9, Ikeja Electric released a statement: “We regret to inform you that there has been a significant load-shedding exercise across Ikeja Electric’s franchise areas due to a fault on a transmission infrastructure. This has resulted in widespread power supply disruptions and instability.

“The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) engineers are currently working tirelessly to resolve the issue and restore normal power supply as soon as possible.”

The term ‘grid disturbance’ refers to minor disruptions in the grid’s normal operation, such as fluctuations in voltage or frequency. These disturbances may not lead to a complete loss of power but can cause instability in the system. They are often temporary and can be resolved without significant impact on consumers.

System outage, on the other hand, occurs when a specific part of the grid experiences a loss of power supply. This could be due to equipment failure, maintenance, or localized issues. Unlike a grid collapse, a system outage is usually confined to a particular area or region and does not affect the entire grid.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) revealed that a grid collapse (partial or full) is the most severe scenario, where the entire grid (or a significant portion of it) fails, leading to widespread power outages. A partial collapse affects only certain sections of the grid, while a full collapse results in a total blackout across the network.

According to the NERC, grid collapses are often caused by cascading failures, where an initial fault triggers a chain reaction of failures throughout the system.

Band A Customers Express Frustration

The ongoing incessant power outages have led Band A customers to demand that the DisCos either meet the required service hours or automatically downgrade their feeders.

Nigerian musician and rapper, Olanrewaju Ogunmefun, popularly known as Vector, took to X on Monday to express his grievances on the issue.

He said, “Today, the people are being forced into Band A tariffs when the service is not Band A. It is suspected that this titular upgrade is motivated more by business profit returns than by a commitment to delivering appropriate service to the customers.

“I am openly calling the attention of the governor of the state within which I reside (@jidesanwoolu) to this.

“The economy hasn’t been easy for decent-earning citizens, and by this, the government is expected to help its citizens regulate any unlawful ‘hustle’ of their pockets.”

He noted that Nigerians shouldn’t be fueling generators at high fuel costs to charge inverters while paying ridiculously high fees for electricity they don’t receive.

NERC’s Directive to DisCos

Last November, the NERC directed electricity distribution companies to downgrade customers in the Band A category if they do not have enough capacity for supplies.

Dafe Akpeneye, Commissioner for Licensing and Legal at NERC, stated that if the DisCos cannot meet the promised 20 hours of power supply to Band A customers, they must immediately downgrade them to the level they can realistically supply.

“With regards to the migration order, it is not elective for the customer. The DisCo needs to make an application and ensure that they can supply power to customers in Band A.

“If DisCos can’t supply such customers, they must downgrade them to meet what they can provide.

“The distribution companies can only distribute what is available on the grid. So when there is no supply to the grid, the DisCos can’t meet those supply commitments. But the grid has been resolved, and we hope supply can improve. If it doesn’t, DisCos have to downgrade such customers,” Akpeneye said.

Conclusion

As the power outage continues, Nigerians remain skeptical about the government’s handling of the crisis. Many believe that transparency and accountability are crucial to restoring trust in the system. Until then, citizens will have to endure the frustration of unreliable power supply, rising costs of alternative energy sources, and the uncertainty of when the lights will stay on for good.