BEDC Update To Customers In Benin City On Power Supply Situation

The Management of BEDC Electricity Plc. (BEDC) wishes to further publicly update its customers in Edo State (for the records) on the facts relating to the power situation in Benin City, Edo State, especially those who were affected by the disruption in power supply to some areas in Benin city, caused by the failed on November 7, 2018 of 60MVA power transformer T21 used by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to wheel electricity to some major feeders in Benin city.

For the records out of the three TCN transformers wheeling power to BEDC for distribution to its customers in in Benin City, two failed in quick succession between September 24th2018 and November 7th 2018, with reasons for the failures widely publicized before now. It should be noted that BEDC sells/distribute power to it’s customers in its franchise locations (Edo, Delta, Ondo and Ekiti State) based on what is sold to the company from the TCN grid. Upon the failure of the two out of the three TCN transformers, TCN commenced worked assiduous to sort out the inconveniences that this dual failure caused by arranging for replacement transformers- with the first of the two transformers being made available to BEDC for power distribution on 24th Dec 2018.

In the meantime as a stop gap measure, BEDC immediately restored power supply at an average of 6hours daily availability to most of the affected areas, by connecting several of the customers on the affected feeders to the only existing functional TCN transformer in a manner that did not overload the system and to provide supply albeit on limited basis, pending when normal supply will resume, after the replacement of the faulty TCN transformers. BEDC also immediately commenced construction of new extending electrical lines from three different locations outside Benin to pull more power temporarily in Benin City.
We are pleased to inform our customers that based on the concerted effort of both Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), BEDC in conjunction with several well-meaning Nigerian stakeholders (including Ministry of Power, Edo State Government, the Irrua Community, some key stakeholders in the Senate, Federal House of Representative, Edo House of Assembly and several supportive customers in Edo State) one of the TCN replacement transformers which was taken from Irrua have subsequently been put to use with electricity supply commencing from this source to the affected Benin City areas as from the last week in December 2018 as shown below:
POWER SITUATION IN BENIN METROPOLIS [ PRE and POST FAILURE OF T21, T23, 60MVA AT BENIN TS ]
BEDC 11KV BENIN CITY FEEDER
NAME OF THE STREETS AND AREA AFFECTED
AVERAGE AVAIL (HRS) AFTER PRIVATISATION AND PRE-TCN TRANSFORMER FAILURE
AVERAGE AVAIL (HRS) POST-TCN TRANSFORMER FAILURE {07.11.2018}
AVERAGE AVAILABILITY AFTER CHARGING SILUKO LINE FROM OKADA {10.12.2018}
PRESENT AVERAGE AVAILABILITY (HRS) [ AFTER COMMISSIONING TCN TRANSFORME T23 ] [26.12.2018]

IHAMA
IHAMA RD. GIWA-AMU, GRA, GAPIONA AND ENVIRON.
15
15
6
15

DUMEZ
DUMEZ RD, MARIA GORRETTI RD, EWEKA AND ENVIRON.
12
12
6
12

ETETE-COMMERCIAL
MD CUSTOMERS IN ETETE AXIS
24
24
24
24

UGBOR
UGBOR RD, IDUSOGIE, GUOBADIA, ETETE, AND ENVIRON
12
12
6
6

UP’SAPELE
ETETE, U/SAPELE RD, EREDIAWA, POLE STREET, AND ENVIRON
12
12
6
6

OGBA
IRIRI, EBO, EVBODIA, ELOMO, UTAGBAN,EFIONAYI AND ITS ENVIRONS
12
0
0
12

OKO
OKO ADP, PART OF IRIRI, OKO OGBA AIRPORT RD AND ITS ENVIRONS
12
0
0
12

OBA-PALACE
OBA-PALACE RD, VEGETABLE MARKET RD, AIRPORT RD AND ENVIRON
12
12
6
12

GRA
IJAGBODUDU, GOVERNOR SIDE, OGHARA-EFE COMM. OGHARA-MARKET.
15
15
9
12

RESERVATION
GOLF COURSE RD, AKENZUA, EKEWAN RD COLLEGE RD, AIRPORT RD, GRA AND ENVIRON
12
12
6
12

AIRPORT COMMERCIAL
MR BIGS,HALL MARK,KADA PLAZA,EDO LIBRUARY,HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY,BENINI CLUB,CBN,BENIN AIRPORT,PRESTIGE HOTEL,LILI HOSPITAL AND ITS ENVIRONS
24
24
21
24

ANDREW-WILSON
PZ RD, SAPELE RD, GODWIN ABBE, LIMIT RD, AND ENVIRON.
12
12
6
6

COUNTRY HOME
COUNTRY HOME RD, UGBOR RD, ABUJA QTRS, UU DRIVE, STELLA OBASANJO WOMEN & CHILDREN HOSPITAL AND ENVIRON.
12
12
6
6

EKAE
EKAE, EVBUABOGUN, EVBUOMOMA, EVBUKU, KILOMETER 8 SAPELE ROAD AND ITS ENVIRON.
12
12
6
6

ARUOGBA
EVBUODIA ,EVBUIYOBA,OGUNMWONYI,EVBUOVBIOBA,PARTS OF IRHIRHI,OGBA,EBO AND ENVIRON.
12
12
6
6

EKEWAN
EKEWAN RD, OGBE-IBUYA, AERODROME LL CUSTOMERS IN BENIN SAPELE ROAD AXIS UP TO OLOGBO RIVER [ 33kv koko feeder is charged from Oghara TCN on 25.12.2018]

Power availability in several locations is thus now restored to between 12 and 24 hours, based on the normal load management schedule. The remaining areas still on between 6hour and 9 hours will gradually be normalized as we progress with the BEDC new construction and the restoration of the TCN second transformer.

We have recently been advised by some well-meaning customers in Edo State that over the past three months, continuous attempts are being made by some miscreants (especially those illegally consuming power) to use the temporary failure of the TCN transformers and the temporary reduction in power supply as a means to continuously create politically related disturbances by conducting various demonstrations on the streets of Benin within the coming days/weeks, including sabotaging and vandalizing various power supply locations. We have also been contacted by some well-meaning customers in our other franchise states (Delta, Ondo and Ekiti) who have advised that some of such persons are being mobilized from these neighboring states with financial inducements to join in the politically motivated demonstration.
We wish to use this opportunity to advise all our customers to resist such inducements and report all known cases to law enforcement agencies and BEDC to enable protection of the electricity infrastructure and systems.

It should be noted that all large power generation in the various locations in Nigeria (including Azura Power in Edo State) are contracted and sold directly to the national grid (not directly to the local community), with the eventual sale to the 11 distribution companies in Nigeria being made from this collective pool. For the record, and in dispelling false rumors that BEDC is not taking up its share of power allocation, it should be noted that, in 2018 BEDC purchased an average of 9.4% of power available on the national grid, higher than the allowed 9% statutory allocation. The distribution of the purchased power since privatization, had Edo State enjoying the highest power supply availability amongst the four States in the franchise area. The data before the failure of the power supply to Ondo and Ekiti States have been limited by TCN related challenges which are gradually being addressed.

Supply of this electricity to our 5 segments of customers (Industries and Companies; Small scale enterprises businesses; Government locations including street lights; communities; and residential customers) is further distributed based on the state of existing infrastructure as well as the payment culture of the related customers.

BEDC as a responsible electricity distribution provider is determined to continuously ensure that an enabling environment is created through continuous improvement in power supply to facilitate growth of businesses and in the quality of lives of customers in all its franchise locations, including Edo State.