8-week power outage hits Lagos; DISCO warns customers to brace up

Lagosians are bracing up as Ikeja Electric Plc on Monday announced an eight-week power outage in some areas in Lagos State.

The reason is not about dereliction.

According to the company, the outage to enable the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) re-conduct its 132KV lines to boost electricity for Nigerians.

Olajide Kumapayi, chief technical officer of the electricity distribution company (DisCo), said 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.