Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, has restored bulk electricity supply to the Owerri 132kV Transmission Substation after completing emergency maintenance work on a faulty transmission infrastructure that temporarily disrupted power supply to parts of the South-South and South-East regions.
The utility company disclosed that the outage, which lasted several hours since last Monday, was necessitated by the urgent replacement of a severely cracked isolator located on Tower 16 along the transmission line feeding the substation.
According to TCN, the maintenance exercise required a temporary shutdown of the line from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. to allow its System Lines crew carry out the critical repair safely.
In a statement signed by its General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, the company confirmed that bulk power supply was eventually restored at 4:36 p.m., allowing the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company, PHEDC, to resume electricity distribution to customers across Owerri and adjoining service areas.
“The Transmission Company of Nigeria wishes to inform the public that bulk power supply has been restored to Owerri 132kV Transmission Substation following the completion of a maintenance exercise at the facility,” the statement said.
TCN explained that the repair was necessary to prevent a potential transmission failure that could have caused a more prolonged disruption to electricity supply across the affected regions.
“The maintenance exercise, which led to a temporary interruption of supply from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., was carried out to enable the System Lines crew replace a deeply cracked isolator on Tower 16,” the company added.
With the repair completed and supply restored, PHEDC has resumed off-taking electricity from the substation to serve customers in Owerri, Ahoada, and Yenagoa, TCN noted.
The transmission utility expressed appreciation to electricity consumers for their patience during the temporary outage and apologized for the inconvenience caused by the emergency maintenance work.
“TCN appreciates the patience and understanding of customers in the affected areas and apologizes for the inconvenience caused during the maintenance exercise,” the statement concluded.
