By STANLEY NWANOSIKE

A cross section of residents and business owners in Enugu State have lamented continuous losses due to epileptic power and high cost of electricity tariff witnessed in the state.

They made their feelings known in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the incessant power outages in the state.

The residents called on the Enugu State Government to use the increased monthly Federal allocation and Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), to build a Power Plant in the state.

The Methodist Archbishop of Enugu, Most Rev. Christopher Edeh, described the situation as “worrisome” considering the amount of money the Federal Government had spent on the power sector.

Edeh complained that the churches ran generators for their programmes worth millions of naira.

The cleric however, urged the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the power sector.

The SMEs also urged the Federal and state governments to, in the interim, invest in the national centralised grid system to ensure that the frequency of collapse was checked.

A tailor in Mayor Bus stop, Agbani Road, Mr Chukwumerije Ugwu, said that his productivity had nosedived within the last three months due to epileptic power supply.

Ugwu said that most times, he would appeal to his customers to be patient with him but some of them would get angry and take their patronage away.

According to him, just recently after pressure from a customer owing to two-days blackout, I used charcoal iron to sew the cloth and unfortunately the cloth got burnt and I spent N8,000 to replace the cloth.

“There is a need for Enugu State to build and run its own power generation and transmission system. Just like what was obtainable in Abia with the Geometric Power.

“The vast area of the Abia State currently enjoys uninterrupted supply devoid of total grid collapse,” he said.

A cold store operator in Awkunanaw, Mrs Roseline Ukachi, said that cold room business had consistently witnessed losses since grid collapse persisted with attendant epileptic supply.

Ukachi said that due to unfaithful power supply, most times the perishable items stored in the cold room would deteriorate leading to losses.

She said, “Our customers quarrel with us and at times demand we pay for the spoilt perishable items put in our care.

“We are appealing to all concerned both Federal and Enugu State Government as well as DisCos, TelCos and GenCos to help us as the losses and recent burden of running cold store business is extraordinary.”

A barber in the popular Ngwo Park, Mr Obinna Ejikeme, said that putting the entire Enugu metropolis under “band A” had increased their woes and made life difficult for barbers.

“We hardly have power supply and I spend about N20,000 weekly on fuel for my generator”.

A restaurant owner, Mrs Lydia Utuk, said that she ran her generator for about 12 hours to freeze her foodstuffs especially, meat and other perishable foods.

“This is affecting me adversely. I’m appealing to the governments to urgently address the problem as I don’t have money for solar energy, ” she said.

A resident, Mr Richard Umeh, advised Nigerians to resort to solar energy as the presidency had decided to leave the national grid.

Reacting, the MainPower Electricity Distribution Limited (MEDL), in-charge of electricity distribution in Enugu State, said that the recent drop in power supply across network in the state was due to inadequate gas supply to thermal generating stations (GenCos).

The MEDL Spokesman, Mr Emeka Ezeh, noted that this development had significantly reduced the volume of energy generated and, consequently, the allocation available to MEDL.

“As a result of the decline in generation, the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO), in a bid to maintain grid stability and prevent system disturbances, is currently implementing load shedding across the national grid.

“This has impacted power availability to our network and, by extension, our customers.

“We wish to assure our customers that this situation is not peculiar to MEDL, but a system-wide challenge arising from the current generation constraints.

“We are actively engaging with relevant stakeholders and remain hopeful that the gas supply issues will be resolved soon, leading to improved power supply,” he said.

NAN recalls that apart from the current load shedding resulting to epileptic power supply nationwide; the national centralised electricity grid, controlled from Osogbo in Osun, had collapsed severally within the first two months of 2026.

It is clear that independent and stand alone electricity grids such as the Geometric Power in Abia; current Orashi Power System in Imo and Ibom Power System in Akwa Ibom under construction are solutions to the unfaithful national grid. (NAN)

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