Some electricity consumers across the country have decried the surreptitious rising cost of electricity reflecting on their bills.
An electricity consumer on the Ikeja Electric (IE) platform in Lagos, Tayo Olatoye, obviously seething with anger, said he sent his son to purchase N3, 000 worth of electricity units from an IE vendor last Wednesday. However, upon loading the token, he was shocked at the number of units he got.
According to him, On January 16, I bought 66.6 units of electricity for N3, 000, but to my surprise, last Wednesday, the same N3, 000 worth of electricity gave me 62.4 units of electricity. Previously it used to be N45 per unit but on Wednesday I noticed that it now goes for N48 per unit. This is shocking; because no announcement has been made about an increase in the cost of the tariff, brandishing the purchase receipt issued to him to newsmen.
Explaining a trajectory of tariff increase he has experienced, Olatoye lamented the almost 100% increase in tariff experienced in just about one year. For instance, he noted that last year, the IE charged N29 per unit, increasing gradually over time to N45 per unit last month and now N48 last week.
Last year, at N29 per unit, I got 103.4 units of electricity for N3, 000, but now the same N3, 000 gives 62.4 units. This is almost half of what it used to be in just one year, Olatoye lamented.
Similarly, Timi Michael, another customer of IE in Akute, was taken aback last Friday when he realised a reduction in the number of units he got on his N10, 000 electricity purchase.
Michael, who couldnt comprehend the shortfall, explained: Last January, I bought N10, 000 worth of electricity from IE vendor and got 221.8 units of electricity for it. But last Friday, I was surprised to notice that the same N10, 000 worth of electricity I bought fetched me 208 units; This is shocking. It means IE has increased electricity tariff without notifying us (customers).
An IE sales agent, who pleaded for anonymity, also confirmed the tariff increase. According to her, an electricity consumer, a fortnight ago, purchased N100, 000 worth of electricity units from her in anticipation of the increase.
If the consumers of Lagos IE are in shock over the reduction in units, then the customers of Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC) may not be faulted for expressing their angst over the hike in their electricity bills. Residents of the State capital, Yola, led the protest against a rise in the electricity bills, with many considering alternative sources of power.
According to sources, the issues started towards the end of last month, when a new management in YEDC sent out bills that consumers said had been jacked-up by between 150 and 200%. Many communities around the three metropolitan local government areas of Yola-North, Yola-South and Girei had reacted by advocating the return of the bills to YEDC with a resolve that the electricity distributor could remove their supply cables if they wished.
However, while IE and YEDC consumers are lamenting tariff hikes, it is a different kettle of fish for electricity consumers on the platform of Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC). According to them, the tariff by the DisCo has rather been reduced in the Enugu DisCo coverage area.
Some of the customers, who responded to questions from our newsmen, said they were not interested in the tariff hike but how regular the electricity is. One of the customers, who identified himself as Jude Egbo, said, I dont know how to calculate that thing. What I do is to pay whenever my light finishes so that they will give me light. I dont count those things.
In Jos, residents interviewed told newsmen that they were yet to see or experience an increase in their electricity tariff. A cross-section of residents in the state said that no Electricity Distribution company (Disco) staff has told them of any increase yet.
In Kaduna State, metered electricity consumers said they have not noticed any increase in the electricity tariff. However, consumers on the estimated billing complained of what they called crazy billing in spite of the epileptic service they get.
Some of the consumers who spoke to newsmen, complained that Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, (KEDC), has deliberately refused to meter the majority of the consumers.
A consumer, Tijjani Umar Sallau, lamented that they are paying high as customers on estimated billing, adding that the although the solution is for the distribution company to provide meters for the consumers, they will not provide us with pre-paid meters because they are not tired of manufacturing figures.
According to a source, who craved anonymity, explained that although the Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO) as established by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) allows for small and sort of insignificant review of tariff periodically, nothing major had happened since the last review by the Commission last year.
He said the Discos does not have the power to unilaterally increase tariffs outside of the NERC’s established methodology for regulating electricity prices, reffered to as MYTO.
The source added that the MYTO provides a 15-year tariff path for the Nigerian electricity industry, with limited minor reviews each year; but that no review has been communicated to the distribution companies lately.
Its usually like N1 or 2kobo, or even less; just like it was done in the last tariff regime. MYTO allows for little and minor reviews; nothing major. But I have not even heard of any minor reviews. We are still on the review approved for the year by the regulatory agency.
They do it; and when they approve it, it allows that in every 6 months there is always a little review that could be as small as 50kobo, N1, 30kobo and figures like that, until they do a major review which consumers would now feel that there is a hike, the source explained.
