Lagos communities to experience eight-week blackout, says Ikeja DiSco

Many communities in the heart of Lagos will experience an eight-week power outage beginning from next Monday, October 11, the Ikeja Electric Plc has announced

The eight-week blackout will specifically affect Oregun, Police Training College, Oba Akran, Oke Ira, Ogba, Magodo, Anifowoshe and Omole Phase One, according to the electricity distribution company.

Chief Technical Officer of the Ikeja DisCo, Olajide Kumapayi, who made the announcement at a news conference in Lagos on Monday, said the blackout was necessary to enable the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to re-conduct its 132KV lines.

He added that the project was aimed at increasing the capacity of the transmission lines to wheel more power from the generation companies.

He further noted that some of 132Kv lines installed over 50 years ago had become obsolete and degraded due to time and usage.

Kumapayi said, “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.

“The TCN is replacing all the aluminum 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 8 am to 6 pm everyday, the substations controlling these areas will be switched off which will affect the feeders connected to them.

“This will affect all categories of customers within the area especially our Maximum Demand (MD) customers such as Ikeja City Mall, Police College, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital and the Ikeja High Court.”

The chief technical officer added that the TCN would move to Alimosho and Agege axis in the next stage.