Residents of parts of Abuja have been thrown into another power outage following the tripping of a 100MVA transformer at the Transmission Company of Nigeria’s (TCN) Apo 132kV/33kV Transmission Substation.
TCN disclosed this in a notice issued on Wednesday, explaining that the incident occurred in the early hours of the day and affected four 33kV feeders supplying electricity to parts of the Federal Capital Territory.
The affected feeders are H31, H33, H35 and H37.
According to the transmission company, the transformer tripped after oil spillage was detected on its red-phase high-voltage (HV) bushing.Join Diaspora Networks
TCN said its maintenance crew had commenced investigations to determine the exact cause of the fault and carry out the necessary repairs to restore electricity supply.
“The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, hereby informs the public that the 100MVA TR4 transformer at the 132/33kV Apo Transmission Substation tripped in the early hours of today.
“Our maintenance crew are already carrying out a detailed investigation on the transformer to ascertain the exact cause of the tripping, to enable us effect repairs and restore the transformer,” the company stated.
The latest fault has resulted in an outage in several communities supplied through the affected feeders.
The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) confirmed that areas affected include Apo Legislative Quarters, Lokogoma, Apo Resettlement and other parts of the capital.
The development comes barely a day after TCN announced a separate six-hour planned power interruption in parts of Abuja.
The earlier outage was scheduled for Tuesday, September 8, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., to enable TCN carry out annual maintenance on its 132/33kV Katampe 1 Transmission Substation.
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TCN had said the maintenance would affect AEDC’s ability to supply electricity to Dawaki, Gwarinpa, Dutse Alhaji and surrounding communities.
Parts of Kubwa, Arab Road, Bwari, Mopol Barracks, Jiwa, Suleja Township, the FCT College of Education, Field Base, Madalla, Zuba and adjoining areas were also listed among communities expected to experience the planned interruption.
The fresh transformer fault, however, is separate from the scheduled Katampe maintenance and has triggered another round of electricity disruption in the nation’s capital.
Meanwhile, the worsening reliability of electricity supply has continued to impose a heavy financial burden on Nigeria’s manufacturing sector, with manufacturers spending N1.34tn on alternative sources of electricity in 2025.Join Diaspora Networks
Data from the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) showed that expenditure on alternative power increased by about 21 per cent from N1.11tn in 2024 to N1.34tn in 2025, as factories increasingly turned to diesel generators and other off-grid solutions to sustain production.
The latest figure underscores the extent to which unreliable grid electricity is driving up operating costs for manufacturers, who are increasingly required to generate a substantial portion of their own power.
MAN data showed that manufacturers’ spending on alternative electricity has risen dramatically over the past decade.
Expenditure stood at N25bn in 2014 before rising to N59bn in 2015 and N129.95bn in 2016. It subsequently declined to N117.4bn in 2017, N93.11bn in 2018 and N61.38bn in 2019.
The figure rose to N81.91bn in 2020 before falling to N71.22bn in 2021.
However, spending began a sharp upward trajectory in 2022, reaching N144.5bn, before surging to N781.7bn in 2023.
Manufacturers’ alternative power bill crossed the N1tn threshold in 2024, reaching N1.11tn, and increased further to N1.34tn in 2025.
The rising cost of self-generation has heightened concerns over the competitiveness of Nigerian manufacturers, particularly amid weak consumer purchasing power, high production costs and pressure on profit margins.Join Diaspora Networks
MAN said the deterioration in grid reliability was evident in the decline in average daily electricity supply to manufacturers.
“Grid reliability deteriorated significantly, with daily power supply dropping from 16.7 hours in H1 2025 to just 13.1 hours in H2 2025,” the association, led by Segun Ajayi-Kadir, said.
