- Blackout in Jikowyi, Karu and Lafia
- AEDC blames TCN 132kV Apo transmission line
- TCN says blackout a result of annual maintenance
The residents of Jikwoyi, Karu in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Lafia in Nassarawa state have been thrown into darkness. The cause of the blackout has raised concerns as both the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) trade blames on which party is responsible.
While the AEDC blames the faulty TCN 132kV transmission line at the Apo transmission station, the TCN says the blackout out is simply as a result of an annual maintenance carried out on its network.
General Manager, Corporate Communication, AEDC, Bode Fadipe in a statement released said, ”This is to inform you that due to some technical challenges from the TCN end, AEDC customers from Karu to Lafia have been unable to receive electricity supply since the evening hours of 13/03/2021″.
TCN’s General Manager, Public Affairs, Mrs. Ndidi Mba in response to AEDC said, “AEDC was informed the yesterday, Saturday 13th March that TCN would undertake planned annual maintenance of 150MVA, 132/33kV Power transformer (TR1) at Gwagwalada Transmission Substation”.
Power supply has since been restored to the affected areas. ”After the successful completion of the scheduled maintenance, however, the engineers experienced a challenge in restoring the transformer. Apo, Karu, Keffi, and Akwanga were asked to drop some load until TR 1 is restored. Our maintenance crew worked assiduously and was able to resolve the issue today. Supply would be fully restored through the transformer in the next 30mins”, TCN’s statement read.
”While we sincerely apologise to the affected customers, please be informed that the TCN maintenance crew is already at work to ensure that the challenges are speedily dealt with”, Mrs Mbah said.