It’s 8-Week Outage, Not Blackout, Says Ikeja Electric

Ikeja Electric Plc has said its customers need not to panic as the upgrade of the 132kv lines embarked upon by the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN would not result into total blackout as the power outage would only be between 8am and 6pm for the eight-week period.  

Head of Corporate Communications, Ikeja Electric, Felix Ofulue, while making the clarification, told Business Bells that the earlier report of blackout is a misinformation by some online blogs.

According to Ofulue, “It is not a blackout. Blackout don’t happen in the afternoon. The outage is between 8am – 6pm. In the evening power supply will be restored to customers between 6pm and 8am.”

Olajide Kumapayi, chief technical officer of the electricity distribution company (DisCo), had announced that the project will begin on October 11.

The areas to be affected include Oregun, Police Training College, Oba Akran, Oke Ira, Ogba, Magodo, Anifowoshe and Omole Phase One.

He noted that the outage became necessary because some of the 132Kv lines installed over 50 years ago had become obsolete and degraded due to time and usage.

“The TCN is currently embarking on the upgrade of the 132KV lines from Ikeja West to Ota and Alimosho in stages. This is the second stage.

“We will replace all the aluminium conductors with gap conductors which is more sophisticated to withstand heat and has more capacity to carry current.

“The implication of this is that from 8am to 6pm every day, the substations controlling these areas will be switched off which will affect the feeders connected to them,” Kumapayi said.

Also, Maximum Demand (MD) customers such as Ikeja City Mall, Police College, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital and the Ikeja High Court will be affected by the project.

The chief technical officer disclosed that the TCN will also move to Alimosho and Agege axis in the next stage.