IBEDC Reveals Four Things Causing Poor Electricity Supply In Osun, Kogi, Oyo, Ogun, Others

The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company Plc (IBEDC) has shed light on the factors contributing to the poor power supply being experienced in six states within its franchise area: Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Kwara and parts of Niger, Ekiti and Kogi States

The company’s Lead Media Relations, Busolami Tunwase, outlined four main reasons for the ongoing disruptions and inconveniences faced by residents and businesses.

According to her, “One of the primary factors of poor power supply is the low supply of gas to generating companies (Gencos) which has led to a gradual decrease in available generation into the grid. This has significantly reduced the power available on the transmission grid for onward supply to IBEDC, and in turn, greatly hindered our ability to provide power to customers within our franchise, namely Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Kwara and partly in Kogi, Niger and Ekiti states.

“Secondly, scheduled maintenance activities conducted by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) in January and March, 2024 necessitated planned outages in specific areas of our network. While these measures are essential for ensuring the long-term reliability of electricity infrastructure, we recognize the inconvenience they may cause and sincerely apologize for any disruptions experienced by our customers.

“Furthermore, vandalism and theft of electricity infrastructures remains a major issue negatively impacting power supply. An example is the unfortunate vandalism of TCN towers in Ogun state in May 2023 which resulted in over 7 months of darkness for many of our valued customers.”

She added, “At IBEDC we are particularly confronted with the escalating cases of vandalism, with over 40 incidents recorded in 2024 alone. The theft of valuable assets such as transformer oil, cables and aluminum conductors pose a significant challenge to our operations, as communities affected are thrown into extended periods of outage depending on the severity of the act.

“Energy theft through illegal connections, meter bypass and illicit meters are also major issues affecting adequate supply of power to customers, because they result in revenue losses and liquidity problems for the electricity value chain. We have also noticed an alarming upsurge, with over 1,450 identified cases of energy theft between January and February 2024.”

The disco said, “payment apathy from customers is a major challenge to adequate supply of power. Unfortunately, across our customer segments we have different mindsets that electricity is a social service and should not be paid for; some only pay part of the bill, while others don’t pay because they haven’t received their preferred hours of supply.”

The company appealed to its customers to pay for whatever hours of supply they have consumed to enable IBEDC survive and become sustainable.

Despite these challenges, the IBEDC management expressed optimism that the poor supply situation will soon improve.

She noted that the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has taken urgent steps to address the gas supply issue, energy theft, and vandalism, which should contribute to resolving the power supply disruptions.

IBEDC acknowledged the inconveniences being faced by customers and reiterated its commitment to providing reliable and efficient electricity supply within its franchise area.