The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company introduced new measures on Wednesday to address the prolonged power disconnection issue in the Lalupon community of Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, after a decade.
According to The PUNCH, residents held a peaceful protest at the company’s office in Ibadan on Monday. Christopher Lawal, the IBEDC’s Technical Unit officer, informed the press that current actions include providing power to 65% of customers on the feeder with 40 transformers on load shedding.
Additionally, they are considering options to supply power to some remaining distribution substations from an alternative feeder. Lawal said, “Other measures being put in place are the New Asejire to Lalupon quick wins and extensive use of isolators with the existing network arrangement within a timeline of three weeks as well as cascading of load between feeders within a timeline of four weeks.”
Lawal mentioned that the Odo Ori 11kV feeder will undergo conversion to a 33kV feeder within an estimated period of eight to nine weeks. The engineer highlighted the company’s dedication to interacting with the community, having previously conducted several meetings with local leaders to clarify the situation and seek solutions.
“We sincerely apologise 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 to Lalupon community and its environ community.
“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,” he said.
The Coordinating Head, Corporate Services, Angela Olanrewaju expressed disappointment that despite the award of the 33KV substation project in Lalupon, funded by the Central Bank of Nigeria as part of the IBEDC-PIP CBN CAPEX PROJECTS–2023, the project remains pending due to the awaited CBN financial intervention.
In a brief statement, the Oyo Regional Head, Olumide Akinmusire, assured them that all efforts are being made to enhance the company’s services, with deliberate measures already in progress to boost operational efficiency.
