The management of BEDC Electricity Plc (BEDC) has assured residents of Ondo South that it is committed to providing power to their various communities, provided the Federal Government, through the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), addresses the present technical constraints that impede power distribution to the areas.
BEDC in its reaction to complaints by Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State over lack of power supply to some parts of Ondo South, appealed to the governor to put pressures on TCN and other Federal Government- related institutions to create an enabling environment for BEDC to serve its customers better by addressing these technical constraints.
These constraints, according BEDC includes; the repair of the faulty breaker on the 30MVA TCN transformer which affected voltage to Ondo South axis causing very poor and none useful power ‘candle light’.
BEDC also called for the replacement of the unstable Ife/Oshogbo 132KV undersized line and the recommencing/completion of the proposed 132/33KV, 2x 60MVA at Erinje in Okitipupa which will provide capacity for up to 90megawatts of power when completed. In order to have a lasting and complete solution to Ondo South electricity need as well as have a lasting solution to Ondo State general power limitations, the permanent solution is for TCN to complete the proposed 132/33KV, 2x60MVA at Erinje in Okitipupa project which has been awarded by NDDC and abandoned as well as replace the unstable Ife/Oshogbo 132KV undersized line,” BEDC said.
When this is completed, BEDC said it would be able to take the transmitted power and distribute same to customers in other parts of Ondo South, but noted “this will only serve an additional 25 per cent of the power needs in this area. This is because the estimated total power supply needed is 47.6MW and only additional 11MW will be available from this TCN source, hence there would still be a shortfall of about 36.6MW”.