Energy Fiji Limited has issued a statement about the unplanned outage in most parts of the Western Division today, Saturday 8th January, 2022.

Chief executive officer Hasmukh Patel said: “The main 132,000volts transmission line that evacuates power supply from the Wailoa and Nadarivatu Power Stations tripped causing a Western Division blackout at 12:32pm this afternoon.

“We initially thought it was a transient fault, and tried to reenergise the line, but whilst in the process of restoring power supply, the transmission line tripped again.”

EFL Teams had difficulties patrolling the power line to identify the fault area due to unfavourable weather conditions and flash flooding, Mr Patel said.

“Our teams are currently in the process of patrolling the transmission line to try and identify the fault.”

For the time being, power supply is being supplied through the thermal power stations in the Western Division.

“Weather permitting, our teams will patrol the power lines to identify and rectify the fault before power supply can be fully normalised to the remaining areas and affected customers at our earliest.

“EFL sincerely apologizes for any inconvenience that may be caused as a result of this unplanned power outage and seeks the cooperation and understanding of all our customers affected by this outage,” Mr Patel said.

Earlier today, the following was posted on the EFL social media platforrms: