The management of Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) says it plans to invest N91 billion to improve network, meter customers and automate operations in the next five years.

John Ayodele, the Chief Operating Officer of the company, disclosed this at a media interactive session on Tuesday in Ibadan.

Mr Ayodele said the sum of N18.2 billion would be invested on network expansion in 2021, adding that 530 distribution transformers, 112 substations and 645km feeders had been installed in the last two years.

Listing some of the challenges being faced by the company, he identified energy theft and vandalism as the major challenges, noting that over N200 million was being lost annually and about 122 incidents were recorded in 2020.

He said that over 15,032 captured cases of energy theft were recorded from January to July 2021, while seven of every 10 new meters installed were bypassed in the first week of installation.

“Ministry, Department and Agencies (MDAs) are owing the company over N8.5 billion as at 2020, while none MDAs customers that make up 95 per cent of IBEDC customer base, do not pay their bills fully, even those that are metered.

“Thus, discos losses make it difficult for investors, both local and foreign to invest in the industry,” he said.

Mr Ayodele said the company planned to reduce its Aggregate Technical and Commercial Collection Losses (ATC&C) from 56 per cent to 18.6 per cent.

He said the company also planned to increase energy supplies across its network from 3,986 GWh/year in 2000 to 5,267 GWh/year by December 2022.

On collection, Mr Ayodele said the company lost over N56.1 billion incurred in 2020 on energy alone without other costs like salaries, operating expenses, among others.

He said over 103,994 prepaid meters were planned to be deployed in 2021, while 35,270 and 23,405 meters were deployed in 2020 and 2019, respectively.

He said a total of 80,122 meters under National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) had been installed, while 766,053 meters had been deployed since inception.

“From 2017 to 2020, IBEDC performed the Asset and Customer Enumeration (ACE) exercise to correctly capture the active consumer base and integrate assets register and customer data to enhance service delivery.

“Since 2015, IBEDC has partnered with AMPAK to achieve ISO 45001:2018 certification, while in 2019, IBEDC also achieved a milestone of 365 days lost time injury, translating to 1.6 million safe man-hours.

“IBEDC has rehabilitated 39 dilapidated injection substations; replaced two failed power and 381 distribution transformers; added 2,632 distribution substations; and reconstructed six new 33kv and six new 11 kv outgoing feeders.

“We also rehabilitated 22 high tension and 52 low tension overhead lines,” he said.

Mr Ayodele said the company budgeted about N310 million in 2021 on health, safety, environment and scale up to ensure safety of customers and employees.

The IBEDC network covers Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Kwara and parts of Niger, Ekiti and Kogi States.