Nigerians are feeling the sting of the increase of electricity tariff for customers under Band A category of consumers coupled with mounting frustration over the services of Distribution Companies (DisCos), BusinessDay’s findings have revealed.
Voicing their anger through a surge in complaints, they said electricity customers who are not enjoying up to 20 hours had been lumped up with those enjoying the services.
“I cannot cope with this. This is unfair to me. I was given 12 units instead of 40. That was when I realised I am on Band A despite not getting the Band A (20 hours) electricity,” Chuks Okoli, an energy engineer, said in a Twitter message on Saturday.
“We hardly have light here. In a week, we may have two days of constant supply, while on other days we run on generators. On average, within those two days, the light may stay between 4 and 5 hours, but most of the time, we run on generators,” he added.
Okoli’s sad tale pales when compared with the daily gory experiences of millions of Nigerians left to the trying hands of the DisCos.
Okoli’s story isn’t unique. Across the country, countless families hum with frustration about how meagre power that trickles through comes with bills that seem plucked from thin air.
Some residents of the Federal Capital City, Abuja and its satellite towns, who get their electricity from the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), expressed outrage as some of them in the same neighbourhood were classified into different bands.
Aminat Adeola, who lives in a one-bedroom apartment at Plot A7, Shagari Quarters, Dei Dei, under Bwari Area Council, said the Abuja DisCo placed her on Band A while all her co-tenants were placed on B and C.
“I cannot cope with this. This is unfair to me. Why would they put only me on Band A in this compound? This is an area where we don’t enjoy regular power supply. I will first go to complain in their office in Kubwa before I decide on what to do,” she said on X.
Residents of Victoria Garden City Property Owners and Residents Association (VGCPORA) wrote a letter to Eko DisCo requesting a “thorough review of the tariff increase in light of the subpar service delivery experienced by VGC residents”.
“Despite the promised 20-hour electricity supply, the reality for VGC residents has been far from satisfactory. For the past three months, our electricity supply has been consistently erratic and unreliable. Even the slightest of storms or rainfalls result in prolonged power outages, disrupting the daily lives and activities of our residents,” the resident association said in a letter dated April 4 2024.
But while only a few can write complaint letters, even though it hardly brings any solution, there are millions of Nigerians who cannot write or plead their cases, condemned to less than 20 hours of power supply a week but pay high electricity bills.
So, when the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) released on its Twitter handle a detailed dispute complaint resolution process mapping, some electricity customers described it as a charade.
“I appealed at two Ikeja-NERC Forum Rulings to NERC on February 14, 2019, and no response from NERC after five years. said Chinedu Bosah, a customer on Twitter.
According to the latest annual report of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, the bulk of complaints received were from the power sector.
“Some of the recurring consumer complaints handled by the Commission in the electricity sector were wrong, estimated billing, non-provision of prepaid meters, unlawful disconnection, harassment by DisCos, no provision of infrastructure (electric poles, transformers, and accessories) and poor customer service,” the Commission said.
Speaking on the widespread complaints by Nigerians, Adebayo Adelabu, the minister of power who spoke at a press conference in Abuja Friday, said the tariff hike would ultimately benefit the poor.
He said that from the policy formulation perspective, the recent increase would affect just 15 per cent of electricity consumers in Nigeria.
He said that based on the latest statistics, there are a little above 12 million customers in the sector but this would only affect about 1.5 million customers.
He said the remaining 10.5 million customers would continue to enjoy government’s subsidy at 70 per cent.
The minister added that the federal government was investing heavily on infrastructure, which will ultimately lead to better services, assuring that even manufacturers would have a fair deal compared to what they currently spend on diesel to power their machinery.
“A journey of a thousand miles starts today,” the minister said.
Musliu Oseni, the vice chairman of NERC said on Friday that the Abuja DisCo was fined N200 million because it implemented the new tariff for all customers.
He said this was a breach of trust, and that the fine against the company was to sound a warning that erring DisCos would be punished.
Speaking at a briefing in Abuja on Friday, he said the N200 million would go to the Rural Electrification Agency (REA).
“What led to that is that some customers have complained that they are not enjoying 20 hours of supply, they went to vend and they were charged the new rate.
“The Abuja scenario that led to this is unpardonable. The Abuja DisCo was saying it was an error. Why didn’t they make an error that would reduce the tariff for all customers? he queried.
He said that in the second scenario, after the review, what the DisCos did was to try and protect their revenue and have three options.
“One was to shut down the platform until they effect the rate change. The second option was to limit the amount the customers can vend, and the third one was to change the tariff for Band A before they will start to clean the system to know who are actually on Band A,” he said.
