Electricity consumers in Nigeria might have noticed that the electricity supply in the country has improved considerably with the onset of the rainy season. Thus, it can be said the recent rains in some parts of Nigeria have brought showers of blessing.
In Abuja, for example, since the rains have intensified, there has been an increase in power supply in the state. This increase may result from the state’s proximity to two hydroelectric plants, the Shiroro dam in Niger state and the Jebba dam across Kwara and Niger states.
The proximity challenge to other states may cause electricity consumers in these states to not notice the increase in hydroelectricity generation. For this reason, some states may be oblivious to the showers of blessing.
The Nigerian power sector faces many challenges, including generation constraints, a poor transmission network, and various distribution bottlenecks. However, generation constraints due to gas unavailability and dry seasons for the dams lead to an insufficient power supply.
Now, many electricity consumers in Nigeria generally believe in a myth about the rainy season and poor power supply. The myth is that power supply drops drastically during the rainy season because ‘DisCos allegedly do not like supplying electricity to avoid technical faults.’
The truth is that increased rainfall leads to increased power supply from hydroelectric power plants because the dams have more water supply to work with. And, the proximity of certain states like Abuja, Niger and Kaduna to the dams means that these places get an improvement in power supply compared to places like Cross River and Lagos.
Although technical faults increase during the rainy season, hydroelectricity generation also increases because the showers of blessing help the dams work better.