Anambra 24hr Electricity Supply and the Industrialization Drive

Anambra 24hr Electricity Supply: The Role of FirstPower in Driving Industrialization

Published: 24 March, 2026

Chief Gabriel Okafor’s factory in Nnewi is quieter than it was a year ago. The deafening roar of his diesel generator no longer runs all day. But the steady hum from the grid is not yet the twenty-four-hour supply the state promised. “My diesel cost dropped from N4.8 million monthly to about N1.8 million,” he told me on March 22, 2026. “The FirstPower bill is about N3.2 million. I save roughly N200,000 monthly, and my production line has fewer stoppages. But the generator is still there. It still runs when the power drops.” His story is the current reality. The promise of twenty-four-hour power in Anambra is now scheduled for late 2026.

The Genesis of a Power Promise

It started with a political bet. In 2024, the Anambra State Government partnered with FirstPower. The goal was uninterrupted electricity. Governor Chukwuma Soludo called it a non-negotiable for the economy. The tool was the Electricity Act 2023, which lets states regulate their own markets. As the state government stated in July 2024, power had to become a comparative advantage.

The model is simple: bypass the national grid. FirstPower generates its own electricity from gas and distributes it directly. This creates an islanded grid for clusters in Nnewi and Onitsha. In late 2025, regulatory oversight transferred from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission to the Anambra State Electricity Regulatory Commission (ASERC). A NERC official explained the licensing to BusinessDay in November 2024. The catch: cost-reflective tariffs. Businesses used to cheap, unreliable power now had to pay for consistency.

What the Meter Readings Show

So what does the data say? The state’s own dashboard is optimistic. For February 2026, it reported average availability of 22.7 hours per day. This comes from the Anambra State Power Dashboard on March 1, 2026. It accounts for maintenance and faults.

But there is a catch. Independent reports reveal a more complex picture. On March 13, 2026, residents in some areas were planning protests over what they called “epileptic” and “useless” power supply. FirstPower officially admitted to a 50% drop in supply in early 2026, blaming national grid issues that affected even their islanded system. The company held a customer engagement meeting on March 19, 2026, where it unveiled its plan to begin true 24-hour supply. The timeline: six to eight months, targeting completion between September and November 2026.

The financial impact, however, is rigid. For energy-intensive operations like Chief Okafor’s, the math works. Diesel falls, the power bill rises, but net savings appear. Smaller workshops tell a different story. Their lower consumption sometimes makes the new FirstPower tariff more expensive than their old generator mix.

“The goal was never to provide free power. The intent was to provide predictable power at a cost that allows businesses to plan and profit. The alternative is expensive, dirty, and unpredictable generator power that stifles expansion.”
— Professor Chukwuma Soludo, Governor of Anambra State, speaking at the Anambra Investment Summit, February 2026.

The Infrastructure Behind the Switch

Consistency needs hardware. The Anambra 24hr electricity supply project required a parallel network. FirstPower laid over 320 kilometers of new lines. It installed 45 new transformers and refurbished substations. This was detailed in a project update in January 2026. This separate network insulates it from failures on the national grid.

The real foundation is gas. FirstPower gets its fuel via a dedicated pipeline from a consortium led by Seplat Energy. The contract has a take-or-pay clause. This guarantees revenue for the supplier and security for the plant. Premium Times highlighted in December 2025 how this is hard to copy in states without nearby gas.

Then there are the meters. Every customer gets a smart prepaid meter. This kills estimated billing and boosts revenue collection for the utility. The cost was baked into the project from the start. The new 24-hour supply plan, announced March 19, 2026, aims to use a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) plant to bypass grid failures entirely. The six-to-eight-month window targets clusters like Udoka Estate, Ngozika Estate, and industrial hubs including Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing and Cutix Plc for the first wave of true round-the-clock access.

Industrial Response and Expansion

The effect is tangible. Factory schedules are now based on shifts, not fuel deliveries. Cutix Plc in Nnewi uses FirstPower as its base load. Generators are just backup. The company said in November 2025 this improved product quality and cut machine maintenance costs.

New investments followed. The Anambra State Investment Promotion Agency recorded 14 new proposed manufacturing projects in Q4 2025. Promised investment: over $85 million. Officials say reliable power is the first thing investors ask about.

But there is a limit. The current generation capacity has room for moderate expansion, not a state-wide leap. Scaling up needs massive new power plants and more network. The financing for that phase is still being debated.

“We have moved from planning production around ‘light’ to planning around market demand. That is the psychological shift that changes everything for a manufacturer. But my generator is not dusty yet. It still runs when the new supply drops.”
— Mrs. Ijeoma Eze, owner of a pharmaceutical packaging plant in Onitsha, March 2026.

The Tariff Debate and Social Equity

This brings us to the cost. The ASERC-approved tariff for FirstPower is higher than what the national DisCo charges. A resident might pay N120 to N180 per kWh. The national band is N62 to N120. For industries, the comparison is different. They compare it to self-generation, where FirstPower often wins.

Contrast this with the rest of the state. Outside the FirstPower network, people rely on the old, unreliable grid from the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company. Critics call it a two-tier system: power for the affluent and industrial areas. The state’s commissioner for power told The Guardian Nigeria in January 2026 the strategy is “cluster-by-cluster saturation.” Start where the economic impact is highest, then expand.

The trouble is, this model tests the Electricity Act 2023. Anambra has advantages: an industrial base for demand and location in the gas-rich Niger Delta. States without these will struggle to copy it.

A Template for Nigeria or a Case?

Other state officials are visiting. The recipe is clear: political will, a deep-pocketed private partner, concentrated demand, and cheap gas. Lagos State is trying its own version, as Punch noted in February 2026, but its size makes it more complex.

The federal government is watching. The Ministry of Power sees these state projects as labs for national reform. Success here pressures the national DisCos. It proves a point: people will pay cost-reflective tariffs for reliable service.

Sustainability hinges on governance. The Anambra deal has a clear contract. The state gave guarantees and smoothed approvals. FirstPower took the technical risk. This clarity is often missing elsewhere.

Check Your Own Meter

For you, the test is simple. Add up your last year’s spending on grid power, generator fuel, and maintenance. Compare that to the cost of reliable, twenty-four-hour power at a higher tariff. Your answer will shape your view of Anambra’s experiment.

For state governments, the audit is tougher. It means assessing real assets, mapping demand, and finding partners. It means selling the public on higher tariffs for actual electricity. The alternative is the status quo: cheap tariffs and no power. That cost is much higher.

The story in Anambra is still being written. The generators in Nnewi haven’t been sold. They sit there, silent insurance. But their fading noise marks a shift. This model may persist. Or it may become a blueprint. The answer won’t come from technology. It will come from the will to change how business is done.