The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company

  • Ijebu Ode wearing festive look ahead of Eid-el-Kabir festival

    Few hours to the celebration of the Eid-el-Kabir and few days to the celebration of the annual “Ojude-Oba’’ Festival, scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 23, enthusiasm is at a fever-pitch in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State.

    Socioeconomic activities in Ijebu-Ode where the “Ojude-Oba’’ Festival is celebrated annually have continued to witnesses positive spikes as one enters the ancient town.

     Both the indigenes as well as visitors, tourists and dealers in souvenirs have begun to arrive the state for the annual carnival-like “Ojude-Oba’’ Festival which holds on Aug.23 with the theme: Ojude-Oba: Celebration of Rich Cultural Heritage.

    The “Ojude-Oba’’ Festival is an annual reunion of sons and daughters of Ijebu-Ode, their in-laws, and invited guests usually held two days after the Eid-el-Kabir celebration.

    Our reporters observed a beehive of activities by residents who had their rams and other livestock tied within their compounds for the celebrations of both festivals.

     Also, it was observed that hotels in the town and its environs had been fully booked while operators of outdoor bars, tricycles, motorcycles and relaxation spots had begun to count their gains.

    Ijebu-Ode, a town predominantly occupied by Muslims, comes alive every Eid-el-Kabir alongside the age-old “Ojude-Oba’’, which is celebrated to honour the Awujale of Ijebuland.

    Several corporate organisations had displayed their advert billboards as a way of participating in the celebration of the two festivals.

    Ishola Fatungase, a resident of the town and a paint dealer, said that they were looking forward to a memorable celebration of the “Ojude-Oba’’ Festival.

    Read Also: Eid-el-Kabir: Ambode urges Muslims to embrace love, unity

    He, however, appealed to the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC), in charge of power distribution in the area, to make the event memorable through uninterrupted power supply.

    “The icing on the cake for us will be full-scale-power supply throughout the period of the sallah to make it lively for us as well as being able to preserve our drinks and consumables. 

    “For me as a Muslim, it is the only time of the year I get to see most of my  family members as they are  located in different parts of the country and outside the country,” he said. 

    Another respondent, Gbenga Otukoya, a civil servant, lamented the high cost of rams this year as compared to the same period last year.

    “I just returned from Imowo Eleran market, where livestock is considerably sold cheaply. Yet, I could not afford the type of ram I wanted due to the high price.

    “A medium-sized ram, sold last year for N60, 000 is now N85, 000 at the market, while cows sell for between N120, 000 and N180, 000 or even higher depending on the quality. 

    “A large ram is going for between N120, 000 and N150, 000.

    “We are in a joyful mood as expected but the only downturn is that most people are not as buoyant financially to celebrate the sallah and Ojude-Oba as expected,” Otukoya said.

    Mr Dare Odusanya, a car dealer based in Chicago, USA, said he arrived in the country two weeks ago to have ample time to savour the holiday mood in the town alongside his other family members.

    “The high point for me apart from the sallah break is the Ojude-Oba festival which is celebrated with so much pomp and pageantry.

     “The festival is colourful and unique as it’s a spectacle to behold given the magnitude of attractions and displays that grace the occasion. 

    “I strategically fix my vacation to correspond with this occasion and also invite my white friends to Nigeria just to grace the grandeur of the “Ojude-Oba’’ Festival,” Odusanya said.

    The Chairman of the Ojude Oba Planning Committee, Otunba Wahab Osinusi had previously assured participants coming to witness it of maximum security and safety.

    “The festival is not only about equestrian display, parade of culture and tradition, merry-making and funfair.

    “It is also to boost commerce and trade in its entirety as commercial and trading activities are at their peak before, during and after the festival.

    “All the facilities; hotels, restaurants, artisans, craftsmen, transporters, professionals, market men and women, among others are fully engaged with several multiplier corporate effects,” Osinusi said.

    He assured intending visitors and guests coming for the event of adequate medical services, security and traffic management saying all security agencies were working assiduously to ensure a hitch free celebration.

    Several hundreds of thousands of people including visitors and guests from diverse cultures and nationalities are expected to grace the 2018 edition of the Ojude-Oba Festival that began over 100 years ago. 

  • Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company warns against electricity hazard

    Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company warns against electricity hazard

    The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company ( IBEDC ) on Monday, advised the public to be wary of electricity hazards and shun habits that poses danger to their lives and property while using electrical appliances.

    The Regional Head of Communication IBEDC Ilorin Zone, Mr Asaju Kolawole, gave the warnings during a road show by the company.

    The road show included distribution of flyers to members of the public while the staffs went round the metropolis singing, dancing and intermittently giving short enlightenment talks.

    Risk prone areas such as Sawmill, Taiwo Road, Surulere, Unity, Post Office and Challenge, people were warned against building houses under power lines.

    READ ALSO: CHI Rights Issue hits 100.09% success

    IBEDC also cautioned residents against illegal connection, tampering with or vandalizing installations of the distribution company, among other vices.

    Kolawole stressed that the campaign was to educate the general public on the dangers of toying and tampering with electrical installations.

    He warned those who build, sell, load vehicles and plant trees under or close to power lines to desist to avoid electrocution.

    The spokesman also frowned at the vandalism of public facilities, particularly electricity installations, urging communities to be proactive in reporting any suspicious movement around electrical installations in their domain to security agencies in the state.

    He regretted that misuse of electricity had led to the death of many people and enjoined the public to be careful in order to avert such ugly incidents.

    Kolawole reiterated the company’s commitment to offer efficient services to its customers and appealed that complaints on illegal electricity connections, low power supply and electricity surge, electrocution and fire out break be reported promptly for immediate intervention.

    He also appealed to customers to settle their electricity bills promptly to enable the company serve them better.

    NAN

  • Community attacks IBEDC over high billing electricity

    Except the management of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) takes urgent steps to restore the prepaid metre to the people of Unity and Peace Estate in Ado-Odo-Ota, Ogun State, the issue of collection of electricity bills in the area may after all be forgotten for now.

    Occupants of the estate trooped out in their numbers to express their anger on what they described as exploitation by the distribution company. According to some of them who spoke most people in the estate have paid for the metre for over two years now and are yet to be installed.

    The first Chairman and Ex-Officio of the estate, Arowolo Abdul said members of the estate tasked themselves and even went as far as borrowing money to put in place all the electricity installations in the estate including the transformers, poles and wires, yet the distribution company still collected the sum of about N300, 000 to energise them. And the following month they started bringing bills to the tune of over N15, 000 per month at the time without any form of compensation to the people, he narrated.

    Abdul told The Nation in Ogun the bills had been increased to the tune of between N29, 000 and N35, 000 per month within the family, adding about 90 per cent of unity and peace estate doesn’t have any tenant.

    He said: “This time our people are fed up, because we suffered to do all these things, and yet the company is still exploiting us by bringing crazy bills, that is why we are here today, there is no measurement for the bills,” he lamented.

    The quick intervention of the police had prevented any crisis that would have erupted, the District Police Officer (DPO), Sangobiyi J.A. as he preferred to be called promised to call the two parties to a negotiating table.

    The Legal Adviser to the community, Ade Yusuf, also agreed the disco collected money for prepaid metre from and after two years they have not installed it, they have been giving us crazy bills, we are here to say no meter no payment, he stated.

    Business Hub Commercial Manager of the Ibadan Distribution Company, Christopher Lawal said the issue of prepaid metre was a challenge across all the Discos, according to him, no Disco has metered all its customers hundred per cent, it is an ongoing issue.

  • Why prepaid meter may never go round

    Being a new unmetered customer, my monthly electricity bill in July 2014 was roughly N3000. This was with the assumption made by the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) that I consumed 140 kWh in the month, which was far from the reality going by the gross inadequate supply of power in the country. In August, IBEDC increased the assumed electricity consumption to 160 kWh, giving me a bill of N3400. However, it was a rude shock to me when in September of the same year, I received a bill of N5200 with estimated energy consumption of 280 kWh. To play a smart game, IBEDC attached to the month’s bill the following note:

    “Good day my esteem (sic) customers, the increase in your current charges is due to an increase in energy received from the grid as at August 2014. Please kindly pay up your charges and outstanding debt if there is any. Thanks and God bless.”

    I was upset. How does the increase in the energy received from the grid translate to the amount supplied to me as a customer? This is a clear demonstration of how defective the billing method used by our electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs) is. I picked my phone, composed and sent a message to the marketer in charge of my area to register my grievance of the “crazy” bill. What she simply replied was that I should try and get a prepaid meter, as if it was that easy to get even upon payment. Thinking that the following month billing will go back to the status quo, I received another N5000 plus in October. I then resolved that there was no option than to procure a prepaid meter by all means.

    I applied and paid the necessary charges for a prepaid meter but was made to realize that thousands of customers who have applied and paid the charges were on a long queue. Lots of consumers have made down payment for the meters for several months or even a year without being supplied by DISCOs. This has exposed consumers of electricity to the user-unfriendly estimated billing system otherwise called “crazy’’ bills. Luckily I had a Master’s degree project student who connected me to one of the top ogas in the company and was instantly issued a prepaid meter out of the five reserved for the VIPs.

    With a recharge of N3000 that month, I realized I did not exhaust it until three months later. Wow! When I could have paid nothing less than N15000 for the same consumed energy since power supply was usually far from being regular. It was then I realized the immediate benefit of the prepaid meter and how it makes life easy for customers. As side from that, there was no fear that my service cables, which I had been guarding jealously, would be disconnected and carried away by the company’s technical staff.

    The question that keeps bothering one’s mind is that are there no manufacturers to supply the meters? The simple answer to this is “Yes”, there are. Is it only the customers that benefit from the usage of prepaid meter? The answer is “NO”. The benefits are both ways.

    As a customer, using prepaid electricity allows you to more accurately budget for your monthly electricity. You cannot be over-billed by the electricity company beyond your monthly budget for it. Unlike the conventional postpaid metering system where the customer will get billed at the end of the month since he/she is not aware of how much energy is used on a real-time basis, prepaid meter has a readout display of your rate of energy consumed and the units left. This feature of the meter enables you to continuously monitor and control your electric energy usage more efficiently.

    Another benefit enjoyed by a prepaid meter user is that you never have to worry about being disconnected at your home or business and later be surcharged the payments required for reconnection. Again, it is more convenient to reload credit into the meter. You could purchase prepaid credit from vendors who provide 24/7 service to their customers at any time of the day. When your prepaid electricity token is loaded, your electricity units will be added to your account instantly, whatever time of the day or night.

    DISCOs too benefit tremendously when all customers use the prepaid meter. For example, in the traditional postpaid electricity metering system, a meter reader from the electricity company would come to your premises to take the readings on the meter. Unfortunately, there are lots of security risks associated with meter readers these days. These risks are removed when DISCOs no longer require their services in that regard. Not only this, the expenses incurred on this system are eliminated when all customers use prepaid meters.

    Again, the issue of non-payment of electricity bills on time or at all by the customers can no longer arise. So revenue collection is made much easier for the DISCOs, as they are presently unable to collect sufficient revenue to pay their full market costs. In 2016, for example, all DISCOs in the country were unable to achieve beyond a collection rate of 57% from their customers. It must be emphasized that it is most critical for the distribution companies to have enough revenues to settle their wholesale obligations, meet their operating expenditure requirements and invest in new capacity, so as to improve their service delivery to the customers.

    Despite all these mutual benefits, so why is it that power distribution companies in Nigeria still don’t like meters to go round? The answer to this is not farfetched.

    First is energy theft. Once you have a prepaid meter in your premises, DISCO staff would rarely visit your house to take any reading. For this reason, a number of customers usually seize that opportunity to make illegal connections that could bypass the meter. Some are so smart that they connect only the light current appliances to the meter while heavy current equipment are connected directly to mains supply without passing through the meter. In fact, manufacturing companies are not left out of this unwholesome practice. But because DISCOs suspect there is this possibility, they place a heavy fine of N50,000 on whoever is caught in the act of illegally stealing their commodity. Despite this, how many customers engaged in the fraudulent practice has been nabbed? Is this to say people are not involved in it? The truth is that the DISCOs technical staff collects bribes from those caught in the act. It is only God that knows how much revenue that has been lost by these power distribution companies in this form.

    Second is low voltage power supply.  A number of prepaid meters, if not all, are so designed that whenever there is a low voltage supply from the supply authority, even though the customer can still power some low voltage appliances in the house, the energy meter will not read. For example, I have personally noticed that when the supply voltage is barely 50% of the nominal voltage value of 220 volts, the prepaid meter will not read, even as electricity being is consumed. In other words, while energy is being drawn from the grid, the DISCO cannot recoup the entire money spent from the customer since the meter does not read at that period of time. Lots of revenue, classified as collection loss, is lost by these companies this way. Perhaps, this circumstance would force the distribution companies to supply good quality power supply to the customers to avoid the power loss caused by this phenomenon.

    Sometime a customer would purchase credit token but would be unable to load it into the prepaid meter. It has happened before to a number of people I know. A particular case study is a woman who was unable to load the purchased credit on her meter. She went back to complain at the office and a technical officer was assigned to follow her to her house to rectify the problem. The problem could not be solved but she was not disconnected. So she used free energy for almost one year. Another scenario is when the customer would actually load credit but the credit will remain unburnt even for a long period of time, without actually tampering with the meter. Perhaps this is due to a fault on the meter, but the bottom line is that the customer keeps enjoying free energy supply for that time period.

    Revenue generation target is probably the main reason why the DISCOs are afraid to provide adequate number of prepaid meters to their customers. For these companies to be able to meet up with their monthly financial commitments, they traditionally resort to giving regional offices and business hubs a monthly revenue generation target to meet. To know what to give out to their offices, what the heads of these offices simply do is to deduct the amount collected via the prepaid meter users from the set target. The balance will then be spread on all other unmetered customers. This practice is no longer secret as regards how DISCOs meet their revenue target. But this is an abnormal and unacceptable practice!

    • Dr. Akorede is Senior Lecturer, Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, University of Ilorin.
  • Group protests non-provision of pre-paid meters

    Group protests non-provision of pre-paid meters

    The Ogun State chapter of Electricity Consumers’ Mega Forum has staged a protest against Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) over its failure to provide prepaid metres for residents.

    Over 100 of protesters who gathered at Otun Ota, a suburb of Ogun State in their yellow- branded T-Shirt on which was emblazoned “together we can chase out darkness’’ carried placards some of which read “Stop infringement of customers’ right’’, ‘’stop extorting customers and entire citizens’’, ‘’no prepaid metres-no payment’’,’’ it’s our right to have free prepaid metres’’, ‘’say no to electricity metres manipulations’’ darkness, say no to outrageous billing, no to estimations’’, say no to electricity supply slavery, among others.

    The group urged the residents to reject any bills from IBEDC and restrain them from disconnecting lights until they provide prepaid metres to the residents. No prepaid metres-no payment, they insisted.

    The group, through its Coordinator, Comrade Olajide Jayesimi, said it’s the right of the company to provide free prepaid metres to the residents. He noted that the company refused to do that because of extortion.

    He said residents bought poles, cables, installed lights, using power generating sets to get lights, maintaining it and at the same time paying for exorbitant bills for IBEDC.

    He noted that members of the group would restrain IBEDC officials from disconnecting wires as well as rejecting any bills from the company until they provide prepaid metres for every house. He noted that it is the duty of the electricity distribution companies to provide metres for electricity consumers. He said those that even paid are yet to get theirs.

    Comrade Jayesimi said Nigerians were rejoicing when NEPA was sold to individuals, believing that would bring relief to residents but regretted that the reverse is the case.

    He appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to listen to the cry of customers on the issue of electricity, saying power failure is the greatest challenge affecting the economy.

    The group’s state chairman, Comrade Adebola Adelekan, said the electricity distribution companies were adamant about distributing the metres to the public because it will expose their atrocities.

    He said it had been discovered long ago that the companies are extorting the customers through estimation and outrageous billing system. This, he said, would no longer be tolerated.

    He urged the Federal Government to help the masses fight against illegal extortion, power failure and outrageous billing by electricity distribution companies.

    He said regular power supply would curb criminality and improve the economy.