It Is Unacceptable – Ekiti State Govt Rejects Planned Two Month Power Disruption By TCN, BEDC

The Ekiti State government has called for an immediate suspension of the planned two-month power outage, which is expected to affect the state.

The government, in a statement by the Ekiti State Commissioner for Public Utility, Mobolaji Aluko, said the planned power outage is unacceptable, and too much price to be paid by the residents.

He therefore called for its immediate suspension and an emergency meeting with stakeholders to chart a new course of action.

The position of the state government was made known after the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), revealed plans to conduct essential maintenance on the 132kV Akure-Osogbo transmission line, which will result in power disruptions for Ondo and Ekiti states over a two-month period.

According to a public notice made available on Sunday and seen by Naija News, the maintenance work will lead to power outages in Ondo and Ekiti states, lasting nine hours daily from July 1 to August 31.

The Commissioner, however said that the state government was not informed or carried along before such a decision was taken by the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

The government asked for an emergency meeting with the stakeholders affected, scheduled for Tuesday, July 2, at the Ekiti State Government Secretariat.

A letter written by the State Commissioner, to the MD/CEO, Transmission Company of Nigeria, Abuja, the MD/CEO, Benin Electricity Distribution Company, Benin-City, and the Chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Company, Abuja, dated June 30, titled “Re: Notification of Power Disruption/Outage in Ado-Ekiti and Akure for two months (July, August 2024),” reads: “The planned disruption of electricity in these two months amounts to an unacceptable economic, financial, and social price to be paid by the citizens of Ekiti State, and we totally reject such a plan.”

It read further, “Our attention has been called to public notifications, both in print and in jingles in English and in Yoruba, of the intention of BEDC, under advice by TCN, to disrupt power supply to the transmission stations in Akure and Ado-Ekiti with the effect of adversely affecting Ekiti and Ondo State areas for nine hours each day (8am to 5pm) from July 1 to August 31, 2024.

“No direct notification/communication was made to the Ekiti State Ministry of Infrastructure and Public Utilities (MIPU) on this matter, nor was approval sought and obtained from the Ekiti State Electricity Regulatory Bureau (EKSERB), saddled by law with the full authority to regulate the electricity industry in Ekiti State.

“The planned disruption of electricity for three-eighths of each day for sixty-two days, amounting to five hundred and fifty-eight hours (558) total and twenty-three days of outage in these two months amounts to an unacceptable economic, financial, and social price to be paid by the citizens of Ekiti State, and we totally reject such a plan.”

The letter demanded an “immediate suspension of the plan and called for an emergency meeting with the regional heads of TCN, BEDC, and NERC.

“The meeting is slated for Tuesday, July 2, in the commissioner’s office at the Government Secretariat, Ado-Ekiti.”

Aluko said, “The meeting would help all stakeholders devise an alternative and far less adverse plan to achieve the same stated aims.”