Enyeribe Ejiogu, Henry Okonkwo (Lagos), Isaac Anumihe (Abuja), Tony Osauzo (Benin) and Noah Ebije (Kaduna)

Many had hoped that the power sector, particularly the electricity distribution sub-sector, would witness a new turn with the President Muhammadu  Buhari’s change mantra pushed forward to woo Nigerians to vote for him in 2015. The president had promised to bring change in three key areas of the economy, corruption and security. But five years down the line, some critical areas have not fallen in line according to the presidential promise. One of these is electricity supply.

Though the government has been making efforts to address the electricity problem, but these are not yielding enough results, making electricity consumers to be still under-serviced and short-changed by the operators.

Thus the frustration of the people is gradually turning to anger, which may soon graduate to rage that could push them to pour out into the streets nationwide in protest against the manifested agony they have been subjected to since the privatisation of the power sector in 2013, which resulted in the unbundling of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) into 18 entities comprising generation companies (GENCOs), Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and distribution companies (DISCOs). Whereas the Federal Government retained the TCN (100 per cent for strategic national security reasons as the new entity was designed to serve as a bridge between the privately owned GENCOs and DISCOs, to ensure semblance of power supply balance and stability nationwide.

The DISCOs are meant to purchase electricity from the GENCOs and sell to end-users, collect money and pay for the power purchased from the GENCOs and TCN through NBET Plc. But then, the demon called ‘Nigerian factor’ threw a spanner in the works. Under the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding they signed when they took over the power distribution territories they acquired, the DISCOs were supposed to quickly build the distribution infrastructure (new distribution lines/cables, substations, transformers and customer meters), to facilitate adequate service delivery.

The GENCOs and TCN have been delivering on their end of the bargain as major TCN and GENCO projects are ongoing. But the DISCOs, as Sunday Sun learnt, have not invested in the critical assets that would enable them deliver quality service that Nigerians had  yearned for, and which informed their eager support for the unbundling of PHCN, derisively described as ‘problem has changed name’ (PHCN) – an allusion to the meaning which the people gave to NEPA (never expect power always). The National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) was the previous name of PHCN.

When the government initiated the process to unbundle PHCN, the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, led by its General Secretary, Joe Ajaero, expressed serious misgivings against the plan as it believed that it would not produce real benefits for the country. Today, Ajaero, who is also the President of the United Labour Congress, feels vindicated by what is happening now in the sector.

He told Sunday Sun: “As we talk, if we are able to generate up to 10,000 MW, the transmission grid can only absorb about 8,000MW maximum. But the major problem is that the distribution companies (DISCOs) can only wheel (that is take up and distribute) only 4000MW. There is hardly any transformer today that is not on overload. The private sector companies that acquired the DISCOs are not replacing the malfunctioning transformers they inherited and which are being damaged by overloading. They are not investing in building new electricity distribution lines, a major thing they were supposed to do in line with the terms of privatisation agreement. What this means is that if you push in 4000 to 5000 MW of power the grid will collapse, and that is exactly what has been happening.

“The simple thing to understand is that the private sector owners of the DISCOs are the cause of the pain Nigerians are passing through. Even if you generate 10,000 MW, they reject loads. Imagine a situation whereby TCN calls up a DISCO, to take about 400MW, but the DISCO says it can only take 200MW. On technical grounds, the DISCO’s capacity may not be able to take more than 200MW because their substations are not functioning and the reason is that they can’t change or don’t want to invest in changing the faulty transformers and substations. Even when it has the capacity to take up the 400MW allotted to it, the DISCO could deliberately reject load because of market dynamics. Now if it takes the 400MW, the bulk trader may require it to pay N800 million or pay N400 million if it takes only 200MW. The revenue it will earn from accepting just 200MW is the same as it would receive from taking up and distributing 400MW through its network.

“In other words, the DISCO makes more money by not taking up load from TCN, because it charges its customers based on estimation. What this means is that if the revenue projection at the end of the month is N1 billion, whether they take 200, 300 or 400MW, the income is the same. So, it does not make business sense to the DISCO to take up the 400MW offered by TCN and pay for it, when it can take and pay for far less load and still make its projected revenue without supplying adequate electricity. The reason Nigerians are caught in the grips of the DISCOs is that the government did not do first things first before it privatised the power sector. The power sector since privatisation has been a cesspit of corruption for the dumping of non-performing ministers.”

Over the last seven years, the combination of prolonged blackouts and frequent power failure in the face of crippling estimated bills have set a seismic tremor of anger in customers that may boil over before long.

Seeing the massive ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests taking place all over America and some parts of Europe because of pent up anger against long experience of institutionised racism, Tunde Akomolafe (real name concealed), a senior marketing executive in Lagos, now believes that Nigerians should re-enact the ‘Enough is Enough’ peaceful protests that were held during the Jonathan era.

“As far as power supply is concerned, Nigerians have been the victims of rapacious exploitation by DISCOs who supply darkness, yet they charge cut-throat estimated bills that have absolutely no basis. What the DISCOs are doing is so criminal and heartless. Can you imagine a situation where somebody living in a mini-flat that has no air-conditioner, no freezer, small fridge and who does not sleep with ceiling fan because the compound is so airy, uses few 5-watt low energy bulbs (unlike the old incandescent bulbs that consume 60-100 watts) and you still send the person estimated bill of N12, 000 when most times within the 24-hour cycle, power was in actual fact only given for just two or three hours when nobody was at home? Most people use generators to power their homes, and still they get slammed with exorbitant estimated bills at the end of the month,” Akomolafe said.

Without a doubt, before PHCN was unbundled, people clamoured for change in the power sector. Looking at the decay and deficiencies in the sector, it may be argued that Nigerians have justification to be angry with the outcome.

Akomolafe countered that such a position is moot. He and other angry, short-changed electricity consumers find in Ajaero a sympathetic voice.

He said: “Yes, we are angry because the situation has become worse in some key areas. Almost 20,000 to 30,000 Nigerian workers were sacked because of the privatisation, causing loss of employment. When you sack that number of workers, almost one million people will be affected. The people are not getting the services they clamoured for and everybody is lamenting now. Under the market dynamics, if you were distributing 4000 MW, for instance, one year ago and the supply is constant this year, more residential houses that need electricity will be built. It means that a person who got six hours of power last year will get much less this as the supply is constant while demand is increasing. A country with progressive leaders would know that more power plants need to be constructed to meet the rising demand. As at today, there is no new power plant that can be added to the national grid this year.

“We are not aware of any that will come onstream next year. The third point is the issue of tariff. We are paying more for darkness. Again, when a new much higher tariff takes off, Nigerians will pay through the nose for power that is not being supplied. In these three basic areas, should we not complain? If we were told that the people coming would be better and they have not improved on the situation, should Nigerians not be angry? Under government control Nigerians paid less tariff and received hours of power supply, but now they are paying much more but getting only darkness; should they not be angry? This is why the government should not have sacrificed the welfare of Nigerians in this foolhardy and socio-economically crippling experiment it touted as privatisation of the power sector. And it was not as if the government was not warned about the inherent dangers posed to the country. Any commodity that is not accessible cannot be affordable. Nigerians have cause to complain and to be angry. In fact, I see a day that Nigerians would pour into the streets nationwide to protest against the Shylocks taking their blood through excessive estimated bills while giving them perennial darkness. I want to repeat, Nigerians have every reason to go into the streets to protest and complain seriously.”

The growing displeasure of Nigerians over the deficiencies in power supply, when considered against the background of the huge sums invested by the government to support the GENCOs and DISCOs since the privatisation took place, has gained the attention of the federal legislators, who recently coordinated with the Presidency to demand that implementation of a planned increase in tariff which should have taken off on July 1, be postponed till 2021.

Clearly, the heat is on in Abuja, where the National Assembly has launched a probe, to unravel how the Federal Government injected N1.8 trillion into the power sector, after it was privatised by the Goodluck Jonathan administration and yet Nigerians are still caught in pitch blackout. The unspeakable situation has forced Nigerians to burn billions of litres of diesel and petrol to power generators of all sizes and capacities, to provide power to their homes, businesses, schools, worship centres and hospitals, among other places.

Even the country’s seat of government, Aso Rock Presidential Villa and the government houses at state level where the governors live and preside over state affairs, are all caught in the suffocating grip of the country’s very deficient power sector. Needless to add that the millions of generators that run round the clock contribute to the worsening air quality in the country as incalculable volumes of carbon monoxide from exhaust fumes pour into the atmosphere.

Probably to deflect attention, having been at the receiving end of the anger of Nigerians over the abysmal quality of service delivered by its members, the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), through its Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, Sunday Oduntan, quickly issued a statement absolving the DISCOs of complicity in what has emerged as another instance of the crass looting of the public treasury being perpetrated under the guise of supporting the privatised firms to produce power as a strategic national initiative – just like the same story that has been told about funding the battle against insurgency.

Seemingly waving clean hands to underscore the innocence of its members, ANED said: “We have never gotten any free money from the Federal Government. Out of the N1.8 trillion so far injected into the power sector, DISCOs have only accessed a loan of N58 billion from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which is being repaid.”

For operators in the sector, it has been fire on the mountain since the public hearing on “Power Sector Recovery Plan and the impact of COVID-19 Pandemic” was commenced by the Senate Committee on Power. Buttressing the reason for the hearing, President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, spoke the minds of several Nigerians when he said: “Government should not be giving free money. The DISCOs have been given N1.8 trillion. Government cannot afford to just spend money that you hardly understand why it is given and I will advise the Executive that next time, it should bring such expenditure to the National Assembly for approval.”

After the privatisation, in 2014, the CBN set up the Nigeria Electricity Market Stabilisation Fund (NEMSF), under which it provided N214 billion to support the new operators in the power sector (GENCOs, DISCOs and TCN). Of this amount, Oduntan said that the DISCOs got only N58 billion as loans, which they have been repaying over the past six years.

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With the serious and embarrassing decline in power supply, after the exit of theJonathan administration, the All Progressives Congress (APC) which had boasted during the 2015 General Election that it would fix the power sector rapidly boost power generation to 25,000 MW within four years, suddenly discovered that it was facing a herculean task.

Under pressure to redeem its promise, the administration in 2017 gave the GENCOs Payment Assurance Guarantee of N701.9 billion through the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) to help the power stations pay for the supply of gas, to sustain power generation. Again, in 2019, the Federal Government also approved another sum of N600 for the GENCOs, which they also drew down under the auspices of NBET Plc.

Ask the average resident of Lagos about his power supply experience, what you get is an outpouring of uncomplimentary remarks that reflect his frustration with the poor quality of service and high estimated bills, which have put many customers at loggerheads with the DISCOs.

One of such people is Mr. Olasukanmi Akeem, who resides at Tokosi Street in Orile Iganmu area of Lagos State. Akeem is bitter about the exorbitant bills sent to him by the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), one of the two DISCOs in Lagos. The other one is Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC), which is also known as Ikeja Electric Plc.

With his anger barely concealed, Akeem told Sunday Sun: “We have stopped paying the full sum they bill us. So, now we pay the amount we can afford. Sometimes EKEDC would pressure us, and demand we pay because they were not satisfied with the payment we’ve made. But we’ll then tell them that there is nothing to justify their charge because we hardly have power supply here.

“They cut off power for days and ask us to pay for darkness. The bills are indeed crazy. When you pay the full amount on the bill, the next bills you’ll get thereafter will keep increasing. That was what they were doing before we stood up to them. Here a two-bedroom flat gets bill of the sum of N20,000, and a one-bedroom flat (a room/parlour self-contained) is billed N10, 000, while one room (face-me-I-face-you) is billed about N2,000. Whenever they come here we confront them, we don’t get violent with them though. So, when they come and say that they are not satisfied with the payment we’ve made and move to disconnect our light, we protest and distract their operations, to stop them from disconnecting our wires.”

Mr. Seun Salami, who resides in Igbogbo community, Ikorodu, Lagos, says that the expectations he had that the unbundling of PHCN would birth a new era of excellent service have been dashed by the evil practice of ‘crazy bills’ and fixed-rate billing that started from the era of NEPA and was continued by the DISCOs and was even taken to a higher level.

“Our issue is so pathetic. In my area, we don’t get power supply and at the end of the month, they would bring an outrageous bill. It is now like the order of the day here. We have continually called on them to stop their overestimated outrageous bills. We are tired of their load shedding across Igbogbo Baiyeku LCDA, yet we keep getting fraudulently accumulated bills illegally computed to destabilize and intimidate us. IKEDC should adhere to the NERC order of February 2020 on capping of estimated customers that came into force in March 2020.”

From the Iyana-Ipaja area of Lagos, Mr. Friday Oleka, who runs a tailoring business, echoes the views of Salami: “The bills they are giving us now are too much and the power supply is not regular. With the way they are going, the poor will not be able to live in this country, as the standard of living is becoming unbearable for the ordinary man. Sometimes, we won’t have power for almost one week, and when we do, we can’t even enjoy it for two hours uninterruptedly. After all that punishment, the DISCO will still send us a huge bill to pay.”

In Benin City, Edo State, the people are passing through agony in the hands of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), as Sunday Sun learnt from Mr. Innocent Ajayi, Vice President, South-South, National Youth Council of Nigeria.

He said: “To me as a person, BEDC is doing nothing. It is so painful that the whole of 24 hours, you can only see the light for only four hours and one would wonder what is really happening. So, to me, they have not done well at all. People like me have clamoured for the Federal Government to take over the company.

“Let them bring capable hands who can manage the sector so that Nigerians can enjoy full power supply in Edo State and Nigeria at large. Besides, I look at the issue of the estimated billings from the angle of witchcraft. I went to see my aged parents and the only things that they have are just a little fridge, a television set and about four ceiling fans. I was shocked when my father told me that the BEDC had been giving him bills ranging from N7,000 to N8,000 and then the bill was just increased to N10,000. I screamed, horrified by the amount on the bill.

“Meanwhile, if that house was metered, I don’t think my aged parents would consume up to N2,000 in a month. The reason the bill is so high is because the house is not metered. I know they do this because of the selfish gains they are making from estimated billing; that is why they have refused to make the meters available to Nigerians. So to me, the estimated billing is witchcraft, criminal and it is against the progress of the people of Edo State and Nigeria at large. The Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has at different times said that every household should be metered, but we are still shocked that the BEDC has refused to do the needful. I think the way forward is that those who have applied for meters and have not been given their meters should not be paying bills. I think this is the only thing that will make the BEDC do the needful.”

On his part, Osazee Edigin, public relations officer, Edo Civil Society Organizations (EDOCSO), is unrepentant in his belief that President Muhammadu Buhari administration has not been able to deliver on its electoral promise of provision of accessible and affordable electricity to the people.

Edigin contended that the failure of BEDC to faithfully execute its contractual obligation to adequately distribute electricity for private and commercial use in its domain has crippled the socio-economic standard of the state, adding that “I am not satisfied with the current state of electricity. There seems to be a deliberate arrangement by the players in the power sector not to distribute meters to customers, even the Meter Access Provider (MAP) scheme approved by the regulatory body has not seen the light of the day since it was announced. Even when customers pay for the meters, they are not given. Estimated billing system is the highest form of extortion anyone can imagine in this 21st Century. Coercing customers to pay for services not rendered is not only undemocratic, but also wicked to say the least. It should be eradicated in its totality.”

Interestingly, people in Kaduna State are singing a jubilant tune of joy over the steady supply of electricity and lower billing, different from the lamentation over extreme poor service delivery in other parts of the country, where the concerned DISCOs just supply darkness to their customers.

The majority of Kaduna residents, both in the state capital and its suburbs are happy that since the start of the COVID-19 lockdown they have been receiving 24-hour power supply in many areas of the metropolis.

What is more heart-warming is the drastic reduction in the previous regime of strangulating estimated billing which used to be as high as N9,000 per month, minimum, but has now been reduced to as low as N1,500.00 per month.

One of the residents in Goni-Gora area of Kaduna city, Mr. Emmanuel Ebong, exultantly gushed about it:  “I used to pay close to N10,000 per month for estimated billing, but of recent I only get N1,500 to N1,800 a month. When I asked the official of the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (KDEDC) who brought the bill, he told me that it was a kind of palliative for electricity consumers by the Federal Government. And light has been steady in our area.”

Another Kaduna resident, who lives in Narayi area of the city, Mr. Isaiah Benjamin, concurred with Ebong, saying that “it is like a dream seeing steady power supply for 24 hours these days. The authority concerned should keep it up.”

However, those using prepaid meters have complained bitterly that the meters run fast and exhaust the units quickly and forcing them to constantly recharge their meters many times a month.

Bemoaning their situation, they cried out to the Federal Government to extend the same subsidy on estimated billing to them as palliative. Some of them alleged that staff of KDEDC must have tampered with the metres during routine checks to make the meters run fast.

Mrs Victoria Nuhu, a resident who uses a prepaid meter, shared her frustration this way: “I have been disturbing my husband to go to KDEDC, to complain about the way the credit units loaded to our meter run out fast, but my husband has been so reluctant. We are spending close to N4,000 a month now unlike before. We are not using any major appliance more than the deep freezer.”

But a KDEDC official who spoke to Sunday Sun on condition of anonymity said that it was because of regular power supply that made it look like the meters were tampered with, adding that “nobody can tamper with the meters. Your units were not burning fast before because power supply was not regular, but now that power supply is regular your units must burn fast. It also depends on the number of appliances you connect to the electricity supply in your house; the more appliances, the more the consumption of electricity.”