The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) has given reason for the blackout in some states it serves.

The distribution company said it suffered about 1,450 energy theft cases in the first two months of this year.

It said the cases led to the current outages in Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Kwara, and parts of Kogi, Niger, and Ekiti states.

In a statement yesterday in Ota, Ogun State, IBEDC’s Corporate Affairs Manager, Mrs. Busolami Tunwase, said incessant blackout in the affected areas resulted in disruptions and inconveniences for residents and businesses.

The distribution company’s spokesperson said many residents complained about the adverse effects of heat waves on their health due to outages.

She noted that “one of the primary factors is the low supply of gas to generating companies (GenCos) which has led to a gradual decrease in available generation into the grid”.

Tunwase added: “This has significantly reduced the power available on the transmission grid for onward supply to IBEDC and, in turn, greatly hindered our ability to provide power to customers within our franchise, namely Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Kwara, and partly in Kogi, Niger, and Ekiti states.

“Secondly, scheduled maintenance activities conducted by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) in January and March 2024 necessitated planned outages in specific areas of our network.

“While these measures are essential for ensuring the long-term reliability of electricity infrastructure, we recognise the inconvenience they may cause and sincerely apologise for any disruptions experienced by our customers.”

The IBEDC spokesperson regretted that “vandalism and theft of electricity infrastructure and payment apathy from customers remain major issues negatively impacting power supply”.

She added: “Despite these challenges, we remain optimistic that poor supply will soon become a thing of the past as Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, has taken urgent steps to address the gas supply issue.

“On energy theft and vandalism, we are currently partnering the security agencies to reduce this vice. However, we urge our customers to remain vigilant, protect electrical infrastructure within their communities and report any suspicious activities promptly.

“We are implementing comprehensive measures to improve and strengthen our infrastructure in order to efficiently distribute the power we receive from the grid.

“We are also urgently exploring alternate sources of power to enable us meet the power supply needed within our franchise.”

END.