Four states in ‘total darkness’ as fire guts Jos transmission station

Fire has gutted the Jos transmission station through which electricity is being distributed to the fours states – Plateau, Bauchi, Benue and Gombe – served by the Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC).

NAN reports that the fire, which started around 5pm on Tuesday, razed down the facility, a transformer 150MVA 300/132 KV, located along Zaria Road, Jos.

“What it means is that the four states served by JEDC will be in total darkness until the transformer is restored; it is such a sad situation,” Friday Elijah, JEDC direction of communication, told NAN.

“We have deployed a team of engineers to assess the situation; what we do next will be determined by their report. But we want our customers to remain calm.”

Jirbo Verr, JEDC executive director, marketing, who also spoke on the incident, described it as “shocking”.

He said the cause of the fire had not been established, adding that security personnel and fire service men were still battling to contain it.

Verr regretted that the 150MVA transformer, which is the main transformer used in distributing power to the four states, had been razed down, but added that JEDC had a standby transformer which might be put to use “in the meantime”.

“For now, the four states will be in darkness; the standby transformer is of the same capacity and we hope the situation will improve if it is installed.

“We will assess the standby transformer to be sure it is in good shape so as to bring it up to function,” he said.

On how long it may take to repair the burnt transformer, Verr said it was not possible to determine that.

“We do not know the extent of damage; we also don’t know if the standby transformer is in good shape. There is nothing concrete I can tell you for now,” he said.