By Sebastine Obasi and Kunle Kalejaye

Ndubuisi Njoku, a 45-year old electronics technician at Mende, Maryland, Lagos, was shocked when in November 2012, he was given a bill of N27,000 as his tariff due for electricity consumption for October.

His shock stemmed from the fact that no official of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN Plc came to read the metre in his workshop. He was also surprised because the bill shot up beyond his imagination. Apart from that, power outage has become more regular than supply.

The situation is made worse by the fact that he runs his generator for more than five hours daily at the cost of N15,000 monthly, so as to meet the demands of his customers who constantly harass him whenever the repair of their appliances is delayed.

In a letter to the Business Manager, PHCN office at Ikeja to register his grievance, sent in late November, Njoku stated, “Before October, my monthly bills were not up to N2,500, but recently, by October 2012, to be precise, I was given a bill of N27,000. This, I believe is quite outrageous or better put, a crazy bill.”

He continued, “I hereby enclose photocopies of my past bills, and would even want you to find out how many hours of electricity supplied to me.”

Njoku, who told Vanguard that PHCN acknowledged his letter, said he was told to come back. He did, but was told to drop his phone number. Since then, he has not been contacted.

If Njoku was shocked at the exorbitant PHCN bill, Peter Agbakwuru, a journalist, is sad at the constant outage experienced in his area. A resident of Owolabi Street, behind Chevron Estate, Phase Two, Satellite Town, Lagos, he complained of not having power for some days.

According to him, “For one month, there was no electricity. When we had it last month, it lasted for only 20 minutes. Moreover, it was even low voltage. It took me three days to iron a shirt. Yet PHCN has increased tariff for power not enjoyed. On what ground should tariff be increased? PHCN is just ripping off the citizenry. We are paying for what we did not consume.”

Njoku and Ekwujuru are among the residents of Lagos, who complained about the falling power supply in the last five months. Apart from the outage being experienced, they also complained of the exorbitant bills which most times are based on estimates.

Same story everywhere

The situation cuts across Lagos. For example, James Akpan, a civil servant also told Vanguard that his area has not been enjoying regular power supply, while the bill had shot up tremendously. “I live at Ijeshatedo, Surulere, Lagos. Since the ongoing privatization of PHCN, my area has not been having regular electricity supply.

The worst of it all is that my bill had gone up tremendously from N2,000 per month to N8,500. It makes no sense. I have even applied for pre-paid metre without success. This is the time for the regulator to look at all these issues and address them,” he said.

Funke Adigun, a restaurateur at Oremeji, Ojodu area said she spends an average of N4,500 weekly to fuel her generators due to the incessant power outage she experiences. “The power situation in my area is appalling. For 30 days now, we have not had 20 minutes of power supply in a day. I have resorted to using generator, of which I spend N4,500 weekly to fuel,” she said.

For Tunji Adeola, a barber at Onipanu, he had lost some of his customers due to power outage. As a result, he managed to buy a generator. The cost of fuelling it, N5,000 weekly, made him to increase the cost of barbing. “I cut hair at N250 when there is electricity, but with generator, I charge N300. Most of my customers would prefer to wait for PHCN to restore power instead of using generator, thereby leaving few customers to patronize me,” he said.

The story is the same for residents in Idimu, Ogunronbi and Orisunbare areas of Alimosho. In some parts of Festac and Agboju, Vanguard learnt that the constant outage was due to the Amuwo transmission that was gutted by fire in January. Consequently, they receive power from Ojo transmission station.

Situation is better outside Lagos

However, outside Lagos, residents in other states said they have been getting improved power supply. For instance, In Owerri, Imo State, inhabitants have been getting up to 14 hours of power supply. Chidimma Ibegbu, a hair dresser said though she contemplated buying a generator in future as a back-up, electricity in the area had improved.

In Port Harcourt, Rivers State Cheta Nwaiwu, a resident, told Vanguard that since she came to the city in September, 2012, they have been getting at least 13 hours of electricity daily.

In Calabar, Cross River State, Ukutt Inyang, a civil servant said since the beginning of the year, the services of PHCN had improved in many areas of the city.

For Aliyu Garba, a barber on New Extension Road, Kawo, Kaduna, electricity supply has improved in the town. Residents get power supply at night especially from 7.00 pm to 6.00 am. But during the day, there could be outage of two or three hours.

The improvement in electricity supply has also impacted positively on his business because he spends little money on fuel. “I don’t think I burn up to N150 worth of fuel a day. The electricity situation has greatly improved,” he said.

The story is not different in Ibadan, Abeokuta, Akure and Ilorin, where residents say they experience up to 12 to 15 hours of power supply daily.

Jigawa’s case is different

However, in Dutse, Jigawa State, Abubakar Kudu, who lives in Abubakar Rimi Estate, paints a peculiar scenario. In that state capital, there are two kinds of electricity consumers –those on blue line and the others on low line.

The blue line beneficiaries usually get five hours electricity supply during the day and eight hours guaranteed at night, while those on low line get one hour supply during the day and eight hours at night. “There is power as from 8.00pm until 4.00pm when it goes off. That one is guaranteed. But during the day, there is no hope of electricity,” Kudu said.

It’s not so bad

In a telephone chat with the Public Affair Manager, Ikeja Distribution Company, Mr. Adeyanju Pekun, insisted that power supply is not as bad as being painted in Lagos.

According to him, “Power supply has increased tremendously. But any area that does not have steady power supply is as a result of local fault that has not been reported, or road construction that has resulted in relocation of electricity poles.

“For instance, Ikorodu is currently undergoing road construction, and this has necessitated PHCN officials to relocate electricity poles from their original positions to new ones.”