The Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) has confirmed a total blackout across its service area due to the tripping of the 330kV Ugaji-Makurdi-Jos line from the Enugu Transmission Station at 4:57 a.m. on Monday, October 21, 2024.

The outage has disrupted power supply across the Northern region, affecting the Northeast, Northwest, and parts of North Central Nigeria.

In a statement issued by Sani Bala Sani, Head of Corporate Communications, KEDCO revealed that the affected line was part of an interim solution to supply power to the Kaduna and Kano regions after key transmission towers—T133 and T136—along the Shiroro-Kaduna 330kV lines were vandalized.

These damaged towers, which serve as KEDCO’s primary bulk power supply sources, are still undergoing reconstruction, leaving the company dependent on fragile backup infrastructure.

“The 330kV Ugaji-Makurdi-Jos line, routed through the 33kV Kaduna-Jos transmission line, was a temporary measure.

However, with the line now down, our customers are subjected to total darkness,” Sani said in the statement obtained by Advisors Reports.

As of the time of reporting, KEDCO has only 50MW to distribute across its coverage area, far below the allocation required to meet demand.

This meager supply comes despite the national grid generating 3,722MW, distributed among all 11 electricity distribution companies (DisCos).

With no timeline for the restoration of the vandalized towers or resolution of the current transmission line failure, customers in KEDCO’s franchise area are facing an indefinite period without reliable electricity supply.

The company appealed for patience and understanding from customers while working with the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to restore power.

KEDCO also urged residents to remain vigilant and help prevent further vandalism of power infrastructure, which continues to exacerbate the challenges facing the region.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has provided an update on the outage, confirming that the 330kV Ugwuaji–Apir Double Circuit transmission lines 1 & 2 tripped due to a fault, triggering widespread power disruptions across the Northeast, Northwest, and parts of North Central Nigeria.

According to the statement, Line 2 of the Ugwuaji–Makurdi 330kV route tripped at approximately 4:53 a.m., shifting 243MW of power to Line 1. However, at 4:58 a.m., Line 1 also tripped, resulting in a total loss of 468MW.

Attempts to restore both lines around 5:15 a.m. and 5:17 a.m. failed as the circuits tripped immediately with the same relay indication.

In response, two teams of TCN engineers were dispatched to trace the fault along the 215-kilometer line, which runs through challenging terrain and consists of 245 transmission towers.

A team from the Apir Transmission Sub-region patrolled up to the River Benue but was unable to identify the fault on the first day. They resumed the search early the following morning.

Efforts by the Enugu region team to begin fault tracing were delayed due to a ‘sit-at-home’ order in the Southeast on October 21 and 22, 2024, which also hampered the refueling of patrol vehicles.

With security escorts now in place, the Enugu team has commenced fault tracing along the transmission route.

While TCN has managed to restore the 132kV transmission line from New Haven to Apir, the 330kV lines remain out of service, significantly affecting the power supply to the Northern region.

Compounding the situation, the Shiroro-Mando transmission line remains down due to security concerns, further exacerbating outages in the North.

TCN assured that efforts are underway to identify the fault and carry out the necessary repairs to restore the bulk power supply as soon as possible.