Grid Collapses: Abuja Disco Opts for Embedded Electricity to Boost Supply

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Following the frequent collapse of the National Grid, the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company Plc (AEDC), which oversees the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Niger, Kogi as well as Nasarawa states, yesterday disclosed that it was working to ramp up supply by working with private developers on embedded generation.

The development followed the worsening power supply to customers around its franchise areas, aggravated by low on-grid generated megawatts.

Admitting that electricity taken to homes in Abuja and other surrounding states has been “terrible”, the new management of the power firm, added that it was embarking on 40 quick-win projects to reduce the current agony experienced by consumers.

In a statement signed by the Managing Director of the company, Mr Adeoye Fadeyibi, AEDC said that in a few months, the four states would experience improved power supply.

For the fifth time this year, the national electricity grid collapsed earlier in the week, with Discos complaining that they had not been able to receive bulk electricity from the national grid suppliers.

Even in the best of times, the power distributors rarely get half the needed load as generation continues to hover around 3,000 Megawatts and 3,500 Megawatts in a nation of over 200 million persons.

“We, the management of Abuja Electricity Plc acknowledge the terrible and persistent poor state of electricity supply to your various homes and offices. We honestly feel your pains and trauma, and we plead for your continued understanding, while not absolving ourselves of our responsibilities.

“We are working in concert with other industry partners and stakeholders to address the broader problems of low generation and systems instability,” the statement said.

 While intimating its customers of the quick-win intervention projects, it stressed that the move was with the sole objective of quickly improving the supply of power to its franchise areas.

“First amongst this is the fact that we are in various stages of discussions with some power developers capable of giving us, within a few months, a good level of embedded power generation to boost and complement whatever else we get from the national grid, this is especially to improve supply to metropolitan FCT.

“Additionally, aside from the low generation being experienced nationwide, we at AEDC have embarked upon some 40 quick-win projects that are geared towards rehabilitating our network and thereby increasing availability and customer satisfaction.

“They range from de-loading the overloaded feeders, purchase of 81 new distribution transformers and repair of 78 existing distribution transformers. We are also carrying out major maintenance on 34 power transformers,” it added.

 AEDC assured that that goal was to provide customers with acceptable levels of power always, explaining that its collective effort as a management team in the pursuit of this goal was not limited only to the listed interventions.

“We seek every day new ways to achieve this objective very quickly and efficiently. And we commit to you that in a matter of weeks to a few months (staggered), depending on the duration of these different projects, the power supply situation overall will be significantly improved. 

“We appreciate your patience and understanding as we continue to strive towards meeting your expectations in having a world-class power supply in the Abuja franchise area,” it said