CBN lifts DisCos, others with N156.33bn to boost power supply

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disbursed N156.33 billion to Distribution Companies (DisCos) to boost electricity supply in the country.

This was disclosed by the apex bank in its Monetary Policy Committee Communique released after the recently held Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).

According to the document, CBN disbursed N36.04 billion to 17 Meter Asset Providers and nine DisCos, for the procurement and installation of 657,562 electricity meters.

Also, the apex bank, under its Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilization Facility-2 initiative released N129.29 billion to 11 DisCos. The the fund was to provide liquidity support and stimulate critical infrastructure investment needed to improve service delivery and collection efficiency.

“On the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP), N36.04 billion was disbursed to 17 Meter Asset Providers, to nine (9) DisCos, for the procurement and installation of 657,562 electricity meters”, the apex bank stated.

Meanwhile, Nigeria was thrown into darkness on Wednesday afternoon as the national electricity grid collapsed around 12.26 PM.

This was confirmed by separate statements issued by the electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOS) in the country.

Ikeja, Eko and Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company informed their customers of the power outage on their social media handle on Wednesday.

The Head, Corporate Communication at Kaduna Electric, Abdulazeez Abdullahi promised that electricity will be restored once the national grid is back.

He said, “Dear Esteemed Customers, We regret to inform you that the power outage being experienced in our franchise states is due to System Collapse of the National Grid which occurred at about 12:22 pm.

Ikeja Electric said, “Dear Esteemed Customer, the current power outage is due to a nationwide system collapse that occurred at about 12:26hrs. Power supply will be restored gradually to various parts of the network as soon as the Grid is stabilized.”

Eko Electric said, “Dear valued customer, we regret to inform you of a system collapse on the National Grid that’s causing outages across our network. We are working with our TCN partners to restore supply as soon as possible. Please bear with us.”