Residents of communities in Ife North Local Government have protested erratic electricity supply by the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC).
The youths from Ipetumodu, Asipa, Akinlalu, Yakooyo, Moro and Edunabon also protested alleged outrageous electricity bills issued by the IBEDC to their communities.
They called on the Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke and the newly elected member of the state House of Assembly, Akinyode Abidemi Oyewusi to urgently come to their aid.
The acting Youth President, Babalola Taiwo who lamented that it is sad that the six communities have been subjected to long hours of darkness by the IBDEC, added that the ordeal had started to affect daily lives and businesses.
While issuing warning to the IBEDC to find a solution to the problem, the protesters accused the electricity supply firm of crippling their businesses and subjecting them to attacks by hoodlums, particularly in the night.
“We don’t know what we did to IBEDC. They subjected us to epileptic power supply to our area. They don’t give us light. Because of this, most of the artisans, especially those who cannot afford to buy generators, have moved out of the community,” he said.
Responding, the Senior Communication Officer of IBEDC, Osun Region, Kikelomo Owoeye, appealed to residents of the area to remain calm as the company is working seriously to resolve the problem.
Owoeye explained that the prolonged outage was as a result of a faulty equipment from the Transmission station on March 10, 2023.
She added that while sourcing for the faulty equipment there was another breaker fault at the Control Room which delayed the restoration of electricity supply.
“On March 10, 2023 there was a fault due to a faulty equipment from Transmission Station, Ajebandele which resulted to a prolonged outage.
“However, all the faults have been cleared and we have began to work towards achieving the minimum of 8 hours of supply which is the Service Tariff Band D they belong to,” she said.
She stated that the company has had series of meetings with the youths and traditional rulers in the communities and advised that all disputed bills should be forwarded to the Business Hub, Ile-Ife for resolution.
