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Data  · Economy

The regulator recorded two grid collapses in 2025, against 28 in 2016

Total and partial collapses of Nigeria's national grid each year since 2015, and the electricity the grid generated, mainly from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

The Public Interest ·

Nigeria’s national grid collapsed 28 times in 2016, according to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC). Twenty-two of those were total collapses, which NERC defines as a nationwide blackout, and six were partial collapses, the failure of a section of the grid. The count fell to four in 2020 and in 2021, rose to nine in 2024, and was two in 2025: a total collapse on 10 September and a partial collapse on 29 December.

Collapses of the national grid, by yearNumber of total and partial collapses, 2015 to June 2026
Total collapsesPartial collapses05101520252015, Total collapses: 662015, Partial collapses: 442016, Total collapses: 22222016, Partial collapses: 6620162017, Total collapses: 15152017, Partial collapses: 992018, Total collapses: 12122018, Partial collapses: 1120182019, Total collapses: 10102019, Partial collapses: 112020, Total collapses: 442020, Partial collapses: 0020202021, Total collapses: 222021, Partial collapses: 222022, Total collapses: 442022, Partial collapses: 2220222023, Total collapses: 332023, Partial collapses: 002024, Total collapses: 442024, Partial collapses: 5520242025, Total collapses: 112025, Partial collapses: 112026 Jan-Jun, Total collapses: 112026 Jan-Jun, Partial collapses: 112026 Jan-Jun Total collapsesPartial collapses05101520252015, Total collapses: 62015, Partial collapses: 42016, Total collapses: 22222016, Partial collapses: 62017, Total collapses: 152017, Partial collapses: 92018, Total collapses: 122018, Partial collapses: 120182019, Total collapses: 102019, Partial collapses: 12020, Total collapses: 42020, Partial collapses: 02021, Total collapses: 22021, Partial collapses: 22022, Total collapses: 42022, Partial collapses: 220222023, Total collapses: 32023, Partial collapses: 02024, Total collapses: 42024, Partial collapses: 52025, Total collapses: 12025, Partial collapses: 12026 Jan-Jun, Total collapses: 112026 Jan-Jun, Partial collapses: 112026Jan-Jun

Source: Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) Annual Reports for 2017 (2016 and 2017), 2020 (2018 to 2020), 2022 and 2025 (2021 to 2025), and NERC First and Second Quarter 2026 Reports; for 2015, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) records as published by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) and Sweetcrude Reports. Both total collapses (a nationwide blackout) and partial collapses (the failure of a section of the grid) are counted, as NERC defines them. 2026 covers January to June, the latest quarter NERC has published. For 2022, NERC's four quarterly reports describe five collapses, all total; its annual reports for 2022 to 2025 give four total and two partial collapses, and the annual figures are shown. The counts follow NERC's classification of collapses; news reports in 2025 described more grid failures than NERC counted, some of which were characterized at the time as system disturbances.

Source documents: NERC Annual Report 2017; NERC Annual Report 2020; NERC Annual Report 2022; NERC Annual Report 2025; NERC First Quarter 2026 Report; NERC Second Quarter 2026 Report; ICIR, Nigeria's power grid records 206 collapses in 9 years; Sweetcrude Reports, How Nigeria recorded 190 systems collapse in almost 9 years.

Show the figures
YearTotal collapsesPartial collapses
201564
2016226
2017159
2018121
2019101
202040
202122
202242
202330
202445
202511
2026 Jan-Jun11
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There were two further collapses in the first half of 2026, a total collapse on 23 January and a partial collapse on 27 January. NERC recorded no system disturbance on the grid from April to June 2026.

Electricity generated on the grid rose from 28,768.74 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in 2016 to 39,208.68 GWh in 2025. NERC gives the 2025 total as an average of 4,475.88 megawatt-hours (MWh) generated each hour, against an average available generating capacity of 5,398.33 megawatts (MW).

Electricity generated on the national grid, by yearGigawatt-hours (GWh)
010,00020,00030,00040,00050,0002016, GWh: 28,7692017, GWh: 31,6972020, GWh: 35,2432023, GWh: 36,7102024, GWh: 37,0942025, GWh: 39,20939,2092016201720182019202020212022202320242025 010,00020,00030,00040,00050,0002016, GWh: 28,7692017, GWh: 31,6972020, GWh: 35,2432023, GWh: 36,7102024, GWh: 37,0942025, GWh: 39,20939,20920172019202120232025

Source: Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) Annual Reports for 2017 (2016 and 2017), 2020, 2023, 2024 and 2025. Energy generated by grid-connected power plants. NERC reports 2016 and 2017 in megawatt-hours (28,768,741 and 31,696,622 MWh) and 2020 as 35,242,547 MWh; they are shown here in GWh. 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022 are left blank because no NERC annual report stating a total for those years could be opened; the 2022 report gives only an average of 3,988 MWh per hour. The gaps are not filled from the quarterly reports, whose sums differ from the annual totals; for 2025, the four quarterly reports add up to 39,193.92 GWh.

Source documents: NERC Annual Report 2017; NERC Annual Report 2020; NERC Annual Report 2023; NERC Annual Report 2024; NERC Annual Report 2025.

Show the figures
YearGWh
201628,768.74
201731,696.62
2018
2019
202035,242.55
2021
2022
202336,710.38
202437,093.70
202539,208.68
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In 2026, average hourly generation was 4,112.72 MWh from January to March and 4,022.40 MWh from April to June, for totals of 8,883.47 GWh and 8,784.93 GWh in the two quarters.

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