Revealed! Nigeria spends N26bn over power shortages yearly

• To mitigate the impact of power disruptions, businesses invest more than $22 billion annually in off-grid fuel
• It concluded that the availability of energy is one of the main challenges facing business operations in Nigeria and throughout Africa
• The current national grid outage will be investigated, the House of Representatives declared

Legit.ng journalist Zainab Iwayemi has over 3-year-experience covering the Economy, Technology, and Capital Market.

Power outages cost Nigeria an estimated $26 billion annually.

This is according to the most recent Africa Trade Barometer survey, which stated that off-grid generator purchases are not included in the price.

Companies spend over $22 billion a year on off-grid fuel to lessen the effects of power outages. Photo Credit: Contributor
Source: UGC

The report by Standard Bank in a Channels TV report said,

“Economic losses arising from Nigeria’s electricity shortages are estimated to be USD 26 billion annually, without accounting for spending on fuel for off-grid generators, which is estimated to be a further USD 22 billion."

According to the report, companies spend over $22 billion a year on off-grid fuel to lessen the effects of power outages. This raises operating expenses even further.

The report reads,

“In Nigeria, surveyed businesses must contend with a national grid that frequently collapses as it fails to meet a daily peak demand which is nearly four times its generation capacity,”

It found that one of the biggest obstacles to company operations in Nigeria and throughout Africa is the availability of energy.

“Across the 10 African markets, power supply infrastructure remains the most severe obstacle to surveyed businesses’ operations,” the Standard Bank read.“It is reported as one of the most poorly perceived infrastructural attributes as well as the one presenting the most severe obstacle to business operations,” the report added.“Blackouts cause a downtime of production, risk the quality of goods that require controlled environments, impact water supply, and affect telecommunications infrastructure which businesses may rely on for payments. The result is reduced sales and income.”

The report comes amid the incessant national grid collapse in recent weeks. Just this month, there was a blackout in many parts of the country after the grid collapsed thrice in seven days.

According to the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the development was due to an explosion of a transformer in one of the transmission stations.

“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 0815hrs and an associated cascade of power plants shut down arising from the loss of load,” NERC said.

The House of Representatives announced that it would look into the ongoing national grid failure.

NERC issues warning to Nigerians using prepaid meters

Legit.ng reported that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has again reminded Nigerians to update their meters before the deadline of November 2024.

The Commission released the message through its official X account on Tuesday, August 8, 2024, urging electricity consumers to take action before the deadline.

The commission warned that after the deadline, consumers who fail to upgrade may not be able to recharge their electricity.

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Source: Legit.ng