By Suzan Edeh, Bauchi

Consumers in Bauchi State have decried the constant power failures they have been experiencing in the face of increases in electricity bills, following the commencement of a new tariff regime by the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, in June.

They expressed their displeasure towards the unpleasant development and wondered what criteria were used to arrive at the astronomical hike in tariff, contrary to what the industry regulator, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, told the general public.

Investigations by Vanguard revealed that apart from the tariff which has been increased from N7.30 to N12.45 per unit of consumption for residential (R2), the monthly energy consumption has been indiscriminately increased for all the affected persons.

A resident of Sohon Company, a suburb of Bauchi metropolis, Mallam Ibrahim Bola, said that he used to pay N507 monthly for electricity bills, but under the so called new tariff, his bill has risen to N4,500 per month, which he decried was very outrageous.

“I can’t make up because I don’t have such money to pay monthly .The worst of it is that since this June, I cannot remember how many times I have seen light in my house, and yet we are being made to pay more for less. If that is the case, I think I will opt for my generator rather than paying such amount because I only see light once in a week,” he complained.

Another resident, Hayatu Garba, who lives in Wuntin Dada, also a suburb of the Metropolis lamented that her bills rose to N7,000 since the hike in tariff. She disclosed that in the past, she used to pay an average of between N1,000 and N2,000.

She said, “My average energy consumption over the past six months has been in the range of 200 units. With the new electricity tariff, I was credited with about 600 units of energy consumption for the month of June –August, but there has not been any noticeable improvement in power supply over these months.”