Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — Thousands of electricity consumers across Port Harcourt and adjoining areas have been plunged into darkness on Wednesday following a fault on a major transmission line supplying power to the Rivers State capital.
The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company, PHED, said the outage is caused by an earth fault on the Afam–Port Harcourt 132kV transmission line after a cross arm on the network broke, disrupting power supply to key transmission stations serving the city.
In a notice to customers, PHED explained that the incident affected supply to the Port Harcourt Mains, Port Harcourt Town and Rumuosi Transmission Stations, resulting in widespread blackouts across most parts of the metropolis.
“Please be informed that the current outage being experienced in most parts of Port Harcourt is due to a trip on earth fault caused by a broken cross arm on Afam-PH 132kV Line 2,” the company stated.
PHED further disclosed that the second transmission line serving the area had to be temporarily shut down to allow engineers work safely on the damaged infrastructure.
“Consequently, Afam-PH 132kV Line 1 was opened to provide safe working space. This has impacted supply to our Port Harcourt Mains, Port Harcourt Town, and Rumuosi Transmission Stations,” the utility firm said.
The outage highlights the continued vulnerability of Nigeria’s electricity transmission infrastructure, where faults on critical lines often trigger widespread service disruptions affecting households, businesses and industrial consumers.
Port Harcourt, one of Nigeria’s major oil and gas hubs, hosts numerous industrial facilities, manufacturing firms and commercial enterprises that rely heavily on stable electricity supply for operations.
PHED apologised to customers for the disruption and assured residents that efforts were underway to restore supply as quickly as possible.
“We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and assure you that normal supply will be restored as soon as work is completed by the TCN technical team,” the company said.
The company added: “Thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to serve you better.”
The latest disruption comes amid ongoing concerns over the reliability of power supply across Nigeria, with transmission faults, ageing infrastructure and grid constraints continuing to undermine efforts to improve electricity delivery to consumers.
