By Judith Ebere
11KV Breaker
It is already four days of frustration and stress experienced by Ikeja electric customers in Ikorodu as 11kv breaker supplying MARYHILL CUSTOMERS has been affected.
Newsconnect reports that community under MARYHILL experiencing blackout include Igbo-Oluwo, Oke-Oriya, Oliwo-Odikan, Eyita, among others.
Residents of these different communities on different platforms have started venting their frustration and anguish. Against their wishes, they have started fetching water from the well of other neighbors, displeasing themselves and their neighbors.
As a result of the blackout, community members had to exhaust costly preserved food items so they don’t get spoilt. Frozen food sellers who don’t have generator are already at loss. Those who have generators are compelled to buy fuel to keep preserving the frozen foods. Children and students are looking rumpled to schools because they can’t iron their uniforms. DSTV subscription and GOTV is not pay as you go. Ikeja electric had reached out to customers to be patient, that engineers are working on it.
Below is the statement they churn out.
Dear Customer, The current supply interruption is as a result of fault on the Maryhill 11kV breaker feeding your vicinity. Our Engineers are currently working to resolve this. Please be assured that supply will be restored as soon as the fault is cleared. Thank you for allowing us serve you.
Reactions from community members on Ikeja electric and other Whatsapp platform read;
“Engr Monsuru, do we have the replacement breaker now, is this being worked on? How long do we have to wait for this to be resolved? This is getting us frustrated as a lot of us depend on power to carry out our daily jobs. Please do something, please provide feedback “
“Please oooo. We need feedback ooo”.
“Residents of our communities are on us to give them answers ooo”.
“Everybody on Maryhill feeder we need to come out and talk, our being quiet seems like we are okay with the situation. Even if it’s 1 or 2 hrs light we are having like the rest so that we can charge and do other things”.
“He should just give us update at least if they are working on it, hope of having light today. There should be a timeline to resolve issues like this”.
“Another community member opined that they should ensure they get a new breaker because the rush and anticipation of people to use the pumping machine to pump water at the same time may affect it”.
Lo and behold, the light was restored for 2 minutes this evening, then it went off again.
Can it be that the community member who said residents at the same time will rush to use the pumping machine to pump water when the light is restored was right ?
Was the fixed breaker by Ikeja Electric engineers a new one or a old one ?
How much does it cost to get a new breaker that is reliable for connecting communities ?
How can the challenge of faulty breaker be prevented ?
How will Ikeja Electric (IE) compensate customers who are on postpaid considering the impact of the blackout on them ?
How will they compensate customers using prepaid ?
Will it just be sorry, we apologize for the service disruption and we promise to serve you better going forward ?
These are some of the questions on the lips of the affected residents in these communities.