NERC to conduct investigative hearing on recurring grid disturbances

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), says plans are ongoing to conduct an investigative public hearing on the recurring incidences of grid disturbances and nationwide outages.

According to the Commission, the aim is to identify the immediate and remote causes of recurring incidences.

The commission said this on Saturday via X, formerly Twitter, that the public hearing was to find a permanent resolution to the challenges of the national grid.

According to NERC, the date and venue of the public hearing will be announced in the national dailies and stakeholders are encouraged to participate.

The commission noted with concern the recent escalating incidences of grid disturbances often leading to power outages in many states.

“Thus reversing many of the gains recently achieved in reducing infrastructure deficit and improving grid stability.

“Initial reports on the grid disturbance that occurred this morning indicate that today’s outage was triggered by an explosion of a current transformer at the Jebba transmission station at 815. a. m. and associated cascade of power plants shutdown arising from the loss of load.

“However, efforts to restore supply have advanced with power significantly restored, as at 13 00hrs, in 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), “ it said.

The commission said that in line with the provisions of the Electricity Act 2023, the unbundling of the System Operator function (ISO) out of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) was ongoing.

The commission said that the unbundling was with the expectation that an independent SO would engender more discipline in grid management and optimise investment in infrastructure.