The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) has said the electricity supply challenges that sparked a peaceful protest by residents of Lalupon on Monday will be resolved between before the next few weeks.
The protesters from communities covering Adewumi, Trailer Park, Adeleye, Erunmu, Fatumo, Atari, Lalupon, Ejioku, Ile-Igbon, Iyana-Ofa, among others claimed that they have been disconnected for over five years with no hope of reconnection.
IBEDC management while addressing journalists in Ibadan on Tuesday said “Currently, 65% of customers on the feeder are receiving supply, with 40 transformers on load shedding while exploring options to back feed some of the remaining Distribution Substations (DSS) from an alternative feeder.
The officer in charge (technical) of the IBEDC, Mr Lawal Christopher explained that part of the temporary plans to solve the problems is to embark on extensive use of Isolators with the existing network arrangement, and cascading of load between feeders (load from New Asejire- Lalupon).While on the medium term they plan to Convert odo ori 11kv feeder to 33kv feeder, which will take between 8 -9weeks
Speaking on the causes of the challenges, Lawal attributed lack of Funding to complete the substation project, Construction, and Installation of the Lalupon 1 x 15MVA, 33/11kV Injection Substation with the radiation of 2 No. 11kV feeders.
They also said right of way occasioned by the collapsed Olodo bridge which resulted in significant damage to several poles on the network, causing part of the Lalupon 33kV feeder to be isolated due to lack of right of way to re-erect the broken poles. Consequently, 32 substations are out of supply, affecting several communities in Lalupon.
Coordinating Head, Corporate Services, Angela Olanrewaju in her remark said the IBEDC had signed a Memoranda of Understanding with independent power providers to also use their generation to supply the public.
“While appealing to customers to be more patient Olanrewaju said “We have continued to engage the community at different fora, we have engaged with leaders, elders, and heads of communities and also through the CDAs. In the month of June 2024 we have met with the communities several times particularly at the weekly meetings, even after the peaceful protest yesterday we met with the community, and another meeting is scheduled for Thursday.
“We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused by these challenges and are using this medium to assure our customers that every effort is being made to expedite the completion of the 33kV substation project and restore full power supply.”
“As a customer-centric company, we are deeply concerned about the supply situation, as such we have held over ten meetings with the leaders of the communities to explain the situation. These meetings with community leaders underscore our commitment to resolving these issues and improving service delivery.”
