In the wake of Monday’s protest at its office by residents of the Lalupon community over prolonged non-access to electricity, the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) has unveiled plans to, in the interim, restore power to the community in four weeks.
This is as the company assured that it was committed to expediting efforts towards the completion of the 33kV substation project in Lalupon so as to restore full power supply to the area.
Officer in charge (Technical) of the IBEDC, Mr Lawal Christoper disclosed this at a press briefing held at its Ring Road, Ibadan office.
Lawal said the immediate measures to be taken include the extensive use of isolators with the existing network arrangement, within a timeline of three weeks and the cascading of load between feeders (load from New Asejire- Lalupon) within four weeks.
He disclosed that currently, 65 per cent of customers on the feeder were receiving supply, with 40 transformers on load shedding while exploring options to backfeed some of the remaining Distribution Substations (DSS) from an alternative feeder.
He said there would be the conversion of load from Asejire to Lalupon whereby consumers before the bridge will begin to have about four hours of power daily while there will be a cascading to back feed electricity consumers after the bridge in about four weeks time.
Noting that this was a stopgap measure, they noted that the Lalupon had been scheduled as a capital project to the tune of about N1.5 billion already submitted to the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and awaiting approval.
They noted that the capital project to be funded by the federal government involves the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) of the Lalupon 1 x 15MVA, 33/11kV Injection Substation to boost the power supply in the area.
He stressed: “The substation project in Lalupon, funded by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as part of the IBEDC-PIP CBN CAPEX PROJECTS – 2023, is integral to our plans.
“Key components of the project include the construction of Lalupon 33kV Feeder from the Iwo 30/40MVA, 132/33kV Transmission Station. Proposed 33kV T-Off from the Lalupon 33kV Feeder to serve as an in-feed to the Lalupon 1 x 15MVA, 33/11kV Injection Substation.
“They also include the construction and installation of the Lalupon 1 x 15MVA, 33/11kV Injection Substation with the radiation of 2 No. 11kV feeders.
“As part of our commitment to resolving the long-standing issues in this area IBEDC, included this project in the Performance Improvement Projects (PIP) submitted to Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC in 2022. We got approval from NERC; unfortunately, we did not have the funding for the project which is over N1.5 billion. When the CBN intervention fund in the form of loans to DISCOs came up we decided to take advantage of that. However, the project could not commence in December 2023, so CBN put the intervention fund on hold.
“In March 2023, a bridge collapse in the Olodo area 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.”
Also speaking, Coordinating Head, Corporate Services, Angela Olanrewaju said the IBEDC promised that it was committed to implementing measures to ensure the power supply to Lalupon improves in about the next four weeks.
She noted that the bridge collapsed in the Olodo area of Ibadan and the construction project by the government affected poles, substations and other electricity infrastructure due to right of way.
While acknowledging its funding challenges, Olanrewaju appealed to its customers to bear with the IBEDC, as she said a lot was being done to improve supply to underserved communities.
On efforts by IBEDC to have more power to supply its customers, she said the company had signed Memoranda of Understanding with Independent Power Providers to also use their generation to supply the public.
She stressed that the IBEDC was keen on sourcing power outside the grid, exploring solar, and hydropower sources among others.
Also present at the press briefing were the Regional Technical Manager, Oyo, Mr Ismail Nuhu; Regional Head, Oyo region, Mr Akinmusire Olumide among others.
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