The Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) is providing just about seven hours of power supply to an Ikorodu community that ought to receive a minimum of 12 hours under its Band C status, residents have told FIJ.

Residents of Ajayi Oronti, a community development area in Ikorodu, also say that the IKEDC has failed them just as their only transformer falters.

The IKEDC has insisted on load shedding as the solution to the poor-functioning transformer that supplies electricity to Ajayi Oronti while residents battle incessant blackouts.

Residents of Ajayi Oronti are experiencing a series of unprecedented hardships plagued by an underperforming transformer, incessant blackouts and the negligence of the IKEDC in proffering a permanent solution to the community’s electricity crisis.

This community is home to about 400 houses but it relies on just one transformer, thus putting pressure on the transformer and depleting its health.

Residents told FIJ that the transformer had reached its maximum capacity and was experiencing frequent overloads, leading to increased occurrences of power outages. As a result, the residents began to experience frequent transformer G&P cuts and loss of phase, resulting in low voltage and burnt fuses since 2019.

“We have three locations (legs) on the transformer serving the entire community. The transformer’s health was tested, and IKEDC informed us that the only solution is load shedding, which means it can’t power the three locations (legs) on the transformers simultaneously,” John Oni (pseudonym), a resident, told FIJ on August 18.

“One of the locations would have to go off while only two locations (legs) can be powered instead of all three. If the three locations are loaded and run simultaneously, it may damage the transformer completely.”

Since electricity is a basic amenity that these residents cannot live without, they began hunting for solutions to this challenge. The first step they took was to constitute a committee of people who would have discussions with the IKEDC on behalf of every resident.

The members of this committee sat on different occasions to proffer plausible solutions. In one of their meetings, members suggested that community residents would have to contribute money to procure a new transformer, electric poles, cables and insulators because the IKEDC told them they did not have these items in their store.

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This suggestion was not actualised because not every resident contributed to procuring a new transformer.

Instead of assisting the community in installing a new transformer and putting all their woes behind them, IKEDC gave them the option of load shedding. The residents did not welcome this idea because some parts of the community would go hours without electricity.

Lucky Brown (pseudonym), another resident, told FIJ that they had to bribe some staff members of the IKEDC to prevent them from continuing with load shedding.

“We raised N1.1 million between October and January to buy aluminum conductor cables to curb the consistent drop of G&P and IKEDC staff members came to replace it, but the problem persisted. We were invited to come to their office because the transformer had exceeded its 80% threshold, and we had no option but to bow to pressure and accept load shedding,” Brown told FIJ on August 18.

“Load shedding didn’t begin until June because we had to bribe them to hold on. But by the end of May, we refused to tip them and load shedding began in June.”

The IKEDC staff members who suggested load shedding considered it the best solution but the residents’ experiences since load shedding began reveal otherwise. Power supply in the community is now rationed to a 2-day on and 1-day off cycle.

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Residents informed FIJ that they do not enjoy adequate power supply on days they ought to have electricity according to the schedule.

“We are Band C consumers and by virtue of this, we ought to enjoy electricity for a minimum of 12 hours and a maximum of 16 hours daily, but we are always shortchanged,” Oni told FIJ.

Musa Ali (pseudonym), another resident, told FIJ that they only enjoy power supply for about 6 hours on days they are supposed to have electricity according to the schedule, a far cry from the minimum 12 hours of power supply they ought to enjoy as Band C consumers.

According to Ali, the load shedding is affecting the lives of residents and many of them can no longer store food items in their refrigerators.

“The present epileptic power supply in our area is enough proof that our community transformer must not be subjected to load shedding. We have had to go days without electricity. This epileptic power supply coupled with the current fuel scarcity is disheartening,” Ali told FIJ.

Residents also told FIJ that despite enjoying limited hours of power supply, the IKEDC still charges them outrageous electricity bills.

“We have been monitoring the available time of power supply in the community for over two years. We take these records because they charge us exorbitant electricity charges. Most people on postpaid meters pay for what they don’t use,” said Oni.

“IKEDC shares uniform electricity bills for everyone regardless of the size of their homes. What a duplex will get is exactly what a bungalow will get. Electricity bills on post-paid meters range from N40,000 to N60,000 monthly.”

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Residents are also worried about their security because they hardly enjoy electricity at night and this is when burglars attack mostly. FIJ also learnt that they had two cable theft cases due to incessant blackouts and residents had to pay through their noses to procure new cables.

“I don’t see IKEDC working towards solving this situation. They want to put us on load shedding for an indefinite period of time. We are good, peaceful and law-abiding people in Ajayi-Oronti and we deserve a better service from IKEDC, but they have failed us,” Ali lamented.

FIJ emailed IKEDC on August 20, but it failed to respond.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Residents’ real names were changed to pseudonyms to protect their identities in an updated version of this report.