The House of Representatives on Tuesday unveiled plans to investigate the recurring cases of the collapse of the national grid and nationwide power outage.
The resolution was passed sequel to the adoption of a motion on the urgent need to investigate the recurring national grid collapse with a view to addressing the multiple and dire consequences associated with power outages in the country by these collapses’, sponsored by Hon. Sani Bala solicited intervention.
In his lead debate, Bala observed that national grid collapses occur when there are system disturbances along the transmission lines connecting a number of generating stations.
“The House is concerned that since 2013 when the privatisation exercise took place in the power sector, the country has witnessed over a hundred national grid collapses; a challenge which experts and operators said would linger for a long time if not addressed.
“The House is further concerned that only this year, the national grid has collapsed seven times (more than the three times recorded last year), thereby, causing national power outages with enormous socio-economic implications.
“The House is equally concerned that the latest in the series of power failures has been adjudged among the worst the country has witnessed in recent times, which in turn indicates that there is no framework or spinning reserve meant to forestall such occurrences.
“The House is worried that it is incomprehensible that all the key power plants in the country, including Egbin, Utorogu, Chevron Oredo, Oben gas-fired power plants, Ughelli, and Chevron Escravos power plants could all shut down at once.
“The House is also worried that the issue of system collapse may not be unconnected with the Transmission Company of Nigeria’s lack of wheeling capacity, inadequate transmission lines and spinning reserves as well as refusal to fast-track construction of digital control centres instead of the company’s current analog system.
“The House notes that available statistics from the research show that if the power generated is adequately wheeled and transmitted for distribution to consumers, there will be a 30% reduction in the cost of generating power thus leading to a corresponding reduction in the prices of utilities in the electricity supply industry,” he noted.
In his remarks, Deputy Minority Leader, Hon. Toby Okechukwu urged the committee to conduct a thorough investigation into the activities of the operators and the regulatory agencies.
“The essence is to find what we can do as a country to cure issues of power generation. It has been all motion no movement.
“Most countries have solved this problem. It is not a good thing a country of 200 million can’t generate up to 5,000 megawatts.
“If we can’t solve this, we also can’t solve the issue of unemployment. Every month we have an issue of grid collapse. This investigation should be taken seriously,” he urged.
To this end, the House mandated its Committee on Power to conduct an investigation into the root causes of incessant national grid collapse in the country viz-a-viz TCN’s capacity to address the ugly trend, in order to forestall future occurrences and protect our already fragile socio-economic environment.
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