Evaluation of Efficiency of Power Allocated to the Benin Electricity Distribution Company Akure District from National Control Center

Electric power has been a major and vital instrument of development for any nation. It is an ingredient for economic, social, education, technological, industrial and commercial growth of any society. Electric energy is a form of energy that can be generated in large quantity but cannot be stored except in a minute quantity. This storage deficiency necessitates the need to ensure that the level of generation is almost equivalent to the distributed or consumed power in order to have maximum efficiency of the system. Over the years, electricity supply in Akure has been unsatisfactory and epileptic which has in turn affected the growth and development of the area particularly commercial and business activities that requires electric power for their operation, hence the need to identify the major causes of the problems bedeviling electricity supply in the city. This research was carried out to evaluate the efficiency in allocated power to the district by making a comparison between the available capacity of the power network to the actual power being distributed to the final consumer to actually ascertain where the major problem lies. The available capacity at the supply end was evaluated and at the same time data were collected from the feeders feeding the district to evaluate the consumed power and make necessary comparison with the available power. The result shows average efficiencies of 56.44%, 45.601%, 47.913%, 38.118% for the selected readings in May, June, July and August respectively. These efficiencies are assumed unsatisfactory. Although the supplied power is not enough to cater for the demand of the city but yet the available power is still not effectively and efficiently utilized thereby causing a great loss in the gas to power value chain. Necessary recommendations were made to solve this protracting challenge.