Joseph Bakare
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has observed an improved safety record within the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI), but said it is not satisfied with level of mandatory health and safety reports from licensees.
In its Q1, 2024 report, NERC revealed that 23 persons died in electricity-related incidents in 55 accidents, while 31 persons were injured in the first three months of this year.
During the period in review out of the 99 mandatory health and safety reports expected expected from licensees, only 82 reports were received.
According to NERC, Power Generation Company (GenCos) licensees with outstanding reports are Transafam Power (Afam IV-V), Mabon (Dadin Kowa), Egbin Power (Egbin), First Independent Power Limited (Eleme & Trans Amadi), Paras Energy (Paras), and Shell (Afam VI).
Licensees, under Electricity Distribution category (Discos) defaulters are Abuja, Eko, Ikeja, Jos, Kano, Yola, and the Nigeria Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (NESCO) while for transmission, the System Operator (SO) and Transmission Service Provider (TSP) had yet to comply.
The Commission said it will continue to enforce 100 per cent reporting compliance by licensees as contained in the terms and conditions of their respective licences, and apply sanctions where applicable.
However, relative to 2023/Q4, the safety performance within the NESI, NERC said, improved with the number of fatalities decreasing significantly by 36.11 per cent, that is from 36 to 23, while the number of accidents and injuries increased marginally, that is +1.85 per cent and +3.33 per cent respectively.
“During the quarter, NESCO and Yola were the only DisCos that did not record any casualties while Egbin was the only Genco with a safety accident.
“Out of the 54 casualties reported in the quarter, the licensees with the highest number of casualties were Eko (13), Benin (eight), Jos (six) and Aba (six) which represented 24.07 per cent, 14.81 per cent, 11.11 per cent and 11.11 per cent respectively.
“Cumulatively, Discos accounted for 96.30 per cent of causalities recorded in 2024/Q1 continuing a trend observed in previous quarters (98.48 per cent in 2023/Q4) that the distribution segment is the biggest contributor to safety issues experienced in the NESI,” NERC said.
Major causes of the accidents included wire snaps which killed six persons injured six, while illegal/unauthorised access caused five deaths and two injuries.
In addition acts of vandalism killed two and five injuries; unsafe acts/conditions caused 10 deaths and 12 injuries while falls from heights accounted for two injuries.
The Commission said it has initiated investigations into all reported accidents and will enforce appropriate actions against licensees where necessary. Furthermore, the Commission promised to closely monitor the implementation of licensees’ accident reduction strategy for the NESI while the sector’s health and safety code is undergoing a review process.