With Matthew Denis
In a bid to boost power supply in the country Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) has reached out to 150 communities within its franchise area in three months and also rehabilitated over 15 communities in Kwara State.
This is coming as the company has also upgraded its facilities in about 15 communities in Kwara State by renovating the Sawmill 3x15MVA, 33/11KV and Agba Dam 2x15MVA, 33/11KV Injection Substations in Kwara State, which will serve customers in Oko-Erin, Ita-Amodu, Niger, Edun, Balogun Fulani, Ori-Okoh/Ago/Fagba, Taiwo, Osere, Opo-Malu, Saboline, Okesuna,Basin/Fate area, Sabo-Oke/Agric, Tanke/Alakowe, Nupe road and Ojagboro/Ipata communities.
The company’s Head of Branding and Corporate Communications, Mrs Angela Olanrewaju, said in a statement at the weekend that since May this year, the company had met with monarchs, government representatives, community leaders, CDAs, youths and other stakeholders from several communities to listen to their problems and find ways of addressing them.
She also stated that some of the communities such as Osu, Oke Mesi, Okuku, Ibokun in Osun State; and Abiola Way, Olomore, Obantoko, Afobaje, Obasanjo Farm, Owode in Ogun State were provided new poles and conductors.
She added that resolutions are ongoing on identified issues within the areas.
Olanrewaju pointed out that recent developments within the electricity business have made it more important than ever to reach out to the communities. She further said that the company recently launched its Asset and Customer Enumeration exercise (ACE) to ensure that all customers and assets within the company’s area of operations are captured for proper investment planning.
In a related development, the company has also upgraded its facilities in about 15 communities in Kwara State by renovating the Sawmill 3x15MVA, 33/11KV and Agba Dam 2x15MVA, 33/11KV Injection Substations.
The company noted that prior to these upgrades, the communities being served by the substations have experienced frequent outages due to the inability of the aged switchgear to distribute power effectively which adversely affected business activities in the area.
The Chief Technical Officer, Mr. Ade Ayileka said the renovation work in Kwara State was part of IBEDC’s vision to steadily improve the state of its network infrastructure. According to him, over N1 billion has been earmarked for these projects, adding that it is being rolled out in phases.
“We implore our esteemed customers to be patient with us as we are working assiduously to ensure that we cover our entire franchise area in time, he said.
He charged the communities to partner the company by ensuring the new installations are protected from the menace of vandalism.
“We have inherited a huge financial burden in upgrade requirements for our network area. We all need to work together to ensure that our effort in infrastructure development is not short lived due to the greed of a few unscrupulous individuals as it brings huge financial strain on both the company and communities, he added.
Also speaking in a telephone chat on Tuesday with Pilot Business, the Regional Head of public Relations in Ilorin Challenge Office, Mr. Kolawole Abiodun, stressed that the development is mainly to strengthen supply of power within the district.
He called on customers to ensure timely payment of their bills to avoid disconnection of their lines.