In what appears to be a new episode in the series of prolonged and wide-scale power outages experienced by Nigerians in recent times, the Port Harcourt Electricity has informed its customers in four states that the national grid has again collapsed. The effect, as explained by the PHED, is that the four states which it services- Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross Rivers states –will have little or no power supplied to them from the company for a while.
The PHED’s Head of Corporate Communications, Jonah Iboma, said that the company now receives no power from the national grid. He attributed this to its collapse, which happened on Sunday.
However, the spokesman for PHED assured consumers that it was going to seek alternative sources of power to lighten the burden imposed on them by the grid collapse. But he warned that only those who are willing to pay their bills will be able to get the little power available.
The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company is in charge of electricity distribution in four southern states. It began operating in the region in 2013.
Nigeria has recorded several grid collapses this year; a major collapse occurred on Thursday, June 16. The government blames militant attacks on gas pipelines and other vandal activities for the repeated occurrence of system failure bedeviling the power sector in the country. The inability of the system to cope with demand at certain times also results in protective automatic shutdowns.