EEDC Addresses Blackout Crisis in South-east Region

The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) has issued a statement clarifying that the recent blackout affecting South-eastern Nigeria is due to issues with the Mando-Shiroro Transmission line. This malfunction has disrupted power supply in various areas across the region.

EEDC, which distributes electricity across five states in the South-east —Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo— is managing the crisis through emergency load management in parts of its network.

According to EEDC’s spokesperson, Emeka Ezeh, the company is adhering to advice from the National Control Centre (NCC) located in Oshogbo, limiting electricity supply to just 44MW on the Onitsha/New Haven 330kV line affecting multiple transmission stations, including Awada, Agu-Awka, Nibo, New Haven, Nkalagu, and Abakaliki. Additionally, they will manage just 10MW and 11MW on the Ugwuaji and Apir Transmission Stations, respectively.

Ezeh remarked that the customers of EEDC’s subsidiaries, MainPower, FirstPower, and EastLand, specifically in Enugu, Anambra, and Ebonyi states, are facing outages due to this situation.

He expressed the company’s apologies for the inconvenience caused and called for understanding from consumers, assuring that efforts are underway to rectify the fault and restore power as quickly as possible. However, he did not provide a specific timeline for when normal power supply would resume.

Reports indicate that the region has experienced widespread power outages since early Thursday morning as a result of the transmission line failure.

The EEDC has undergone recent changes that allowed its subsidiaries to take over electricity distribution within the South-east. MainPower now manages distribution in Enugu, FirstPower in Anambra, and EastLand in Ebonyi. NewEra has also started operating in Abia, while TransPower is responsible for Imo state.

These changes followed the implementation of the Electricity Act 2023, which authorizes states and private investors to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity within their respective areas, including licensing for mini-grids and power plants.