In response to a protest over the poor power supply experienced by the communities at Okeho (LGA) in Oyo State, and complaints of inadequate metering and high billing of customers, the Management of Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) Plc, has appealed for calm from the affected communities assuring them that the power supply situation would soon improve.
Recall that Angry protesters last thursday took to the major streets of Okeho, the headquarter of Kajola Local Government in Oyo State to register their grievances on the total darkness being experienced in the town for some months now.
They called the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) to right all wrongs now by restoring their power supply with immediate effect or it’s office remained until further notice.
The protesters marched round the town and later to the office of IBEDC located at Isia, beside C& S Church to frown at what they described as “I don’t care attitude” of IBEDC towards providing them electric power supply.
The embittered protesters who were mainly youths also alleged that the authorities of IBEDC had collected money meant for pre-paid metres from them since 2015 but the metres paid for are yet to be supplied to them till now
A statement by the Chief Operating Officer of the Company, Engr. John Ayodele said that a 132 KV line supplies the 11 LGs from Oyo town to Iseyin, Okeho, Otu, Paapo, Ago-Are up to Saki, and this puts a lot of pressure on the infrastructure, which is the reason for its poor performance. In response to this challenge, the Federal Government has commenced construction of a new 132 KV line to augment and improve the present supply. “In addition, we are about to energize the control room at Ogan to enable effective supply arrangement by stepping down the 33KV line to 11KV, this will serve the communities better”. Engr. Ayodele explained.
Engr. Ayodele further said that Okeho is on service band E, which means that they should get an average supply of four hours daily, but currently they get an average of five hours. Also in line with NERC stipulated tariff, the communities are billed monthly on cumulative average of computerized daily supply in compliance with the capping policy.
“IBEDC is a customer-centric organization, and we are working on metering our customers to put an end to the billing issues. As soon as we begin more deployment of meters under the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) or any other scheme approved by NERC, we shall continue to meter our customers based on the service band categorization for ease of distribution”
Engr. Ayodele also pleaded with the esteemed customers at Okeho to remain patient and embrace constructive dialogue to ensure better outcomes.
