A fire outbreak at the Egbin Power Plc facility early Tuesday morning damaged a 150 Mega Volt Ampere (MVA) transformer belonging to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), resulting in widespread electricity disruption across parts of Lagos and Ogun states.
TCN’s General Manager of Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, disclosed this in a statement issued on August 6 and shared via X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday morning.
According to the release, the fire began around 6:30 a.m. from one of Egbin Power’s service transformers, which is directly linked to the 33kV end of TCN’s 150MVA 330/132/33kV Inter-Bus Transformer II.
The company stated: “Investigations traced the origin of the fire to a faulty 33kV instrument transformer (CT/VT) installed by Egbin Power Plc. The equipment caught fire, which in turn damaged a 150MVA transformer owned by TCN, causing oil to leak from a rupture in the main tank.”
The incident triggered a reduction in bulk electricity supply to the Ikorodu and Odogunyan 132/33kV transmission substations that serve parts of the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) and the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC), along with Sagamu Line 1, Sagamu Line 2 and Maryland Line 2 on the 132kV network in Lagos.
At the time of the fire, a load of 47 megawatts was affected. TCN immediately diverted this load to another available 150MVA transformer at the same substation, which is now carrying the extra burden.
Since then, the supply gap has continued to widen, prompting load-shedding across all affected districts.
“Please bear with us as we work diligently to replace the damaged transformer and restore stable electricity supply,” the company said.
TCN confirmed it has notified IKEDC and Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) to support ongoing load management within their respective service areas.
Efforts are underway to urgently source a replacement transformer, TCN added.
“We regret the disruption this has caused to the two distribution companies and their customers. Our team is committed to restoring bulk supply to the substations as quickly as possible,” the statement concluded.
