By Omoniyi Salaudeen, Lagos and Emmanuel Adeyemi, Lokoja
The controversy trailing the latest hike in electricity tariff approved by the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) for the Distribution Company (Discos) is not abating. Weeks after the take-off of the new reflective tariff template based on four-band categorization, performance review of electricity supply across the states remains abysmally low. Aggrieved customers, including those on Band A who are supposed to enjoy 20 hours of power supply per day, described the new tariff regime as a big rip-off.
•Adelabu
In particular, those on estimated billing currently at the receiving end of the collapsing power generation lamented unapproved sudden increases in their monthly bills imposed by the Discos.
In the wake of the announcement of the new tariff, the Vice Chairman, NERC, Musliu Oseni, said the increase would see the customers on Band ‘A’ enjoying 20 hours of electricity supply per day with the approved increase from N68 to N225 kilowatt per hour, while Band B are expected to get a minimum of 16 hours of electricity per day, Band C 12 hours, Band D and E, eight and four hours power per day respectively.
He put the figure of Band A customers at 15 per cent of the 12 million electricity customers in the country.
However, distraught customers across the various Brand categories who spoke with Sunday Sun lamented that the new tariff regime was inherently fraught with corruption. Fuming with anger and frustration, they alleged a high level compromise between the Ministry of Power, NERC, and the Discos by ganging up against the Nigerian people with a sudden tariff hike without first ensuring that the structure that would guarantee efficiency and stability of services to the customers had been put in place.
They expressed anger over the incessant increases in tariff without a corresponding improvement in electricity supply commensurate to justify the bills they were paying every month.
For example, Sunday Sun’s finding revealed six incidents of electricity grid collapse within the first quarter of this year. Yet, despite the obvious inefficiency, the Federal Government went ahead and foisted tariff differential on the people.
The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, while justifying the latest hike in tariff for Band A customers, said the move was to relieve the Federal Government of the burden of electricity subsidy amounting to about N2.9 trillion per year.
He said the recent development was the first step in the government’s plan to completely remove subsidy payments. He maintained that it no longer makes sense for the government to continue paying close to 70 per cent of electricity subsidy for Nigerians under the current economic downturn.
He said the decision to remove the subsidy in phases was to spare those on the lower wrung of the ladder the harsh impact of a total removal.
He explained that nothing less than 67 per cent of the cost of producing, transmitting, and distributing electricity in Nigeria was being borne by the Federal Government.
He further argued that the tariff hike was to attract new investment into the power sector.
“This tariff review conforms with our policy thrust of maintaining a subsidised pricing regime in the short-run or the short-term with a transition plan to achieve a full cost reflective tariff for over a period of, let us say, three years.
“It is because of government sensitivity to the pains of our people that will not make us migrate fully into a cost-reflective tariff or to remove subsidy 100 per cent in the power sector like it was done in oil and gas sector.
“We are not ready to aggravate the sufferings any longer which is why we said it must be a journey rather than a destination and the journey starts from now on, that we should do a gradual migration from the subsidy regime to a full cost-reflective regime and we must start with some customers.
“So, it will be very insensitive on our part to force or compel government to continue to subsidise at that rate of almost N3 trillion for the power sector alone. We just have to be realistic and considerate. We also must ensure that the regulators are independent and there is consequence management,” Adelabu stressed.
According to NERC, the increase in tariffs for Band A customers from N68 to N225 has already relieved the Federal Government of about N1.4 trillion from the projected N3.2 trillion subsidy for 2024.
But the argument has fallen flat in the face of the prolonged darkness the nation has been plunged into due to the collapse of the national grid, the sixth time within the first quarter of the year.
Not unexpectedly, the public outcry trailing the 230.8 per cent rise in electricity tariff for premium power consumers nationwide has continued unabated.
Most concerned customers who spoke with Sunday Sun described the present administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as insensitive to the plight of the ordinary Nigerians who have been at the receiving end of the hard economic policy foisted on the country.
They maintained that the timing was inauspicious, especially given the harsh impact of the fuel subsidy removal which has caused high food inflation the people have had to grapple with under the administration.
Despite this concern, a performance report by the Discos in the last couple of weeks shows that epileptic power has continued unchecked, while the regulatory authorities look the other way.
An aggrieved resident of Atan in Ota axis of Ogun State, Mr Oganla Adetohun, who spoke with Sunday Sun, lamented the abysmal performance of Ibadan Disco, pointing out the dilemma of customers on estimated billing.
“We have never had it so bad. In the last one week, we have not had light for up to 10 hours cumulatively. Most of us now depend on solar power as an alternative to the epileptic electricity supply by Ibadan Disco. Sometimes, they will bring it (light) for 30 minutes a day and it may not blink again for days.
“Unfortunately, there is a limit to what solar power can do. You can’t iron or pump water with solar power. So, we have to spend a fortune fueling our generators to pump water and attend to other domestic chores under the regime of subsidy removal that has made life so difficult for the average Nigerian.
“I suspect that the Discos have been diverting the power generation that is supposed to be rationed among different customers to those on Band A, leaving the rest of us in the dark. What the regulatory authorities have done is to create a class system in the power sector.
“Nigeria is now sharply divided into haves and havenots. Sadly, we have not been spared of the arbitrary increase in estimated billing. Before the current regime of tariff hike, my monthly bill used to be N8,000, but now I pay as much as N25,000 even without a regular supply of electricity because I am still on estimated billing. To avoid this arbitrariness, I have tried to no avail to get prepaid metre.
“This is not what we bargained for under the renewed hope agenda of President Tinubu. But it is unfortunate that the administration has shown more concern with taxing the citizenry than addressing the fundamental issues of poverty that have become a common currency among the people,” he fumed.
For Mr Lucky Bamigbetan, who resides in Genesis Estate, Federal Housing, Aboru, in Iyana Ipaja, Lagos, the Minister of Power bungled the opportunity to prove his capacity to achieve the turnaround of the power sector the day he succumbed to the wishes and caprices of the Discos who had comprehensively failed the nation at large.
According to him, the NERC should have insisted that the infrastructure investment needed to ensure efficiency in the system is put in place before imposing another burden on the customers on Band A.
He said: “What the present government is interested in is raising money at all costs. For instance, what stops the NERC from insisting that prepaid metres must be made available to all customers before introducing Band categorization? What is the justification for the new hike in tariff? The initiative is ill-timed, ill-conceived, and inherently fraught with inconsistency. It will not surprise you to note that there is no 20 hours of electricity supply even to the customers on Band A. But that is what they have to contend with.
“My concern also goes to the customers on estimated billing. In this age and time, estimated billing is no longer fashionable anywhere in the world. The injustice to the concerned customers is unimaginable. For instance, if I live in a flat and I travel for a whole month, I will still have to pay for the light I did not use for the period. Is that a justice system? I am highly disappointed that the Power Minister could succumb to such a fraud under the guise of relieving the government of the burden of electricity tariff.
“The initiative is callous, unjust, insensitive, and highly condemnable. They are capitalizing on the resilience of Nigerians to foist obnoxious policy on the nation. While we are still grappling with the hardship of the fuel subsidy, they slammed another tariff hike on us. It is high time we began to demand accountability. We must insist on holistic reforms that can liberate the power sector from the hands of the agent of darkness.”
Mr Musilu Olabintan, a resident of Ibadan, livid with anger, also slammed the Federal Government for the new tariff regime, dismissing it as a rape on the hapless Nigerians.
His words: “What we have on our hands is a double whammy. You can’t afford to buy fuel to power your generator; you can’t enjoy a regular electricity supply. Yet, they said we must pay more to reward the Discos for their inefficiency. For all intent and purposes, there is no reason whatsoever to justify raising the electricity tariff from N68 to N225 per kilowatt.
“Today, we are worse off than we had been in the past because the common people are at the receiving end of all the economic policies that have made life unbearable for everybody. Already, the rising inflation has eroded the poor purchasing power of the average Nigerians. We don’t know where we are headed.”
From Lagos to the far-flung Northern states of Borno, Bauchi, Kano, and Kogi, among others, the story is the same: lamentation galore.
Some customers of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company in Kabba, Okene, and Idah in Kogi State, who barred their minds on the current plight they have had to grapple with under the new tariff structure, said there was no noticeable improvement in electricity supply to their communities.
Sunday Sun investigations revealed that only some parts of Lokoja like GRA where the Government House is situated and a few areas adjoining the GRA enjoy a relatively stable supply of light, while most parts of the state capital get light for about eight hours or less in a day.
The Eastern Senatorial District of the state is worst hit as most towns and villages rarely enjoy light for three hours in one week.
For example, towns like Ayingba, where the Prince Abubakar Audu University is situated, Dekina, Abocho, Ogwualawo , Idah, Ajaka and many other towns and villages, sometimes rarely enjoy light for one or two hours in two weeks.
Yet, the AEDC continues to bring their monthly bills which normally resort to altercations between the consumers and the AEDC staff.
The same situation is also applicable to some towns and villages in the western senatorial district like Aiyetoro Gbede, Aiyegunle Gbede, Iyara, the headquarters of Ijumu Local Government Area, Mopa, Isanlu, Ekirin Ade and many other towns. The majority of residents of these towns have been cut off from the national grid. Yet, the monthly bills keep on piling up.
Other than Okene, Ajaokuta, Itakpe where there is a relatively stable supply of power due to the closeness to the Geregu plant, towns like Kabba hardly enjoy light for more than six hours a day. In most cases, the AEDC will blink the light for a few seconds and then take it off till the next day.
Worse still, an overwhelming number of electricity consumers in the state who have applied for the pre-paid meters are yet to be given, as the AEDC always complains of short supplies. Speaking with Sunday Sun, a man who operates a popular computer centre in Lokoja, Baba Aminu, complained bitterly that a low supply of electricity had crippled his business.
All of this underscores the need for innovative financing mechanisms and increased investment in infrastructure to boost power generation and the ultimate transmission to the customers both domestic and industrial.
For now, there is no clear roadmap for a sustainable power generation to meet the aspiration of the leaders for industrial transformation of the economy, as all promises have turned out to be a rope of sand.