Labour and other stakeholders want President Muhammadu Buhari to reverse the sales of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) before he leaves Aso Rock as a parting gift to Nigerians over the abysmal failure of the investors, following new tarrif adjustment despite erratic power supply.
LEADERSHIP reports that electricity distribution companies (DisCos) clandestinely increased the tariff payable by power consumers across the country.
Although most of the Discos did not make this public, electricity users have kicked against the move, describing it as “a perfect robbery” amidst the harsh economic realities in Nigeria currently.
Speaking with LEADERSHIP, a busineaswoman, who is into fabric selling in Idumota Market, Lagos Island, Mrs Akeju Oloworola, lamented that the privatisation has only been working in the favour of the investors who are smiling to their banks at the expense of suffering end-users.
To her, “we are tired of epileptic power supply on daily basis. All what we are seeing is whenever they supply their electricity, then be rest assured that the supply is because they are ready to bring their estimated billing.
“We heard Buhari has been taking some steps before he will leave office by taking good towards attending to neglected infrastructure. We want him to also use his preparation to leave office to cancel the privatisation of this electricity company.”
Bearing his mind when this medium was in his shop to buy some products, Alhaji Isa Kaita, a shop owner along Toyin Street, Ikeja, Lagos said, when the light went off, “Na so them dey do every day.”
When reminded of problems that may arise from the called cancelation, Kaita said: “I believe if truly government is ready to cancel the privatisation, it can do it without stress. And it is only FG that can do it.”
Also, a Twitter user, Oyibo Ediri, had accused the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company of quietly increasing the tariff in December, alleging that the firm raised the rate for non-maximum demand customers by N12.65.
“AEDC has quietly increased the cost of electricity. Cost increased from N57.55 in December to N68.2 for tariff band A non-MD. No official statement from @aedcelectricity or @NERCNG on the increase. These people won’t stop to fleece us,” the Twitter user stated.
Replying to the tweet, the AEDC, via its official Twitter handle, @aedcelectricity, explained that the tariff hike was based on the order of NERC.
“Good day, please be informed that the increase in Tariff is in compliance with NERC order,” the Disco stated.
Also, reacting to the response of AEDC, Ediri asked the power firm to provide the current rates approved by the NERC.
“Kindly make the current rates available as ordered by @NERCNG. Thank you,” the Twitter user stated.
Another Twitter user, Justin David, who reacted to the request by Ediri, then said, “We await their response.”
But the Disco did not make any further comment nor did it reply to the requests of the power consumers.
Recall that labour leaders have always been calling for the reversal of PHCN.
The president, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba, recently, during the maiden edition of Nigeria Employers Summit 2022 organised by the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), expressed displeasure over the union over the way and manner Nigerians are being forced to pay for darkness.
The president of NLC, Ayuba Wabba, said: “since the privatisation of electricity distribution, Nigerians are yet to see the fulfillment of the promise of efficient service delivery. Instead, the electricity situation has gone worse with chronic failures by DisCos to supply prepaid meters, exploitation of Nigerians through estimated billings and reluctance to attend to basic complaints.
“We call on the government to reverse the power sector privatisation because it has failed. The privatisation of public utilities has not generally proven to be the correct thing to do in most countries, even developed ones; according to a study released by Public Services International.”
Likewise, the general secretary of junior organised labour in the electricity, National Union of Electricity Workers (NUEE), Comrade Joe Ajaero, has never for once stopped in his campaign for the reversal despite problems or lawsuits that may arise from action.
Joe Ajaero, who also is NLC deputy president, said it was a scam, noting that, since the handover of the assets to private owners, corruption and inefficiency had remained just as the National President of NUEE, Comrade Martin Uzoegwu, said that despite the privatisation of the power sector, no significant improvement has been recorded in the past nine years.”
Ajaero said: “10 years before privatisation, the government did not spend anything to shore up NEPA “that was producing 4,000MW; inefficient but low tariff.
“However, in five years, after privatisation, the government has given them N1.7 trillion and at a time was subsidising with N1.7 billion daily.
The NERC chairman, Sanusi Garba, had, during a press briefing said: “we will adjust the rate every six months to take care of the foreign exchange component of costs, and also inflation. This is absolutely a very straightforward thing,”
“We moved into a new tariff regime on January 1. But there have been other arbitrary increments outside the MYTO regime. However, the one that took effect now is based on the MYTO, as captured in the MYTO 2020 order.”
Reacting to this, Eko Electricity Distribution Company (Eko DisCo) denied reports that DisCos are clandestinely adjusting upward electricity tariff across board.
EKEDC managing director and chief executive officer(MD/CEO), Tinuade Sanda, speaking during a review of, the company’s 2022 performance, denied media report claiming DisCos are embarking on tariff adjustments secretly.
According to Sanda, Eko DisCo did carry out a minor adjustment only for customers in ‘Band A and B’ who receive minimum of 20 and 16 hours daily supply of electricity in accordance with regulatory provisions.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, in its Multi-Year Tariff Order, provides a 15-year tariff path for the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry with limited minor reviews each year.
It states that reviews are in the light of changes in a limited number of parameters such as inflation, interest rates, exchange rates and generation capacity, and major reviews every five years when all of the inputs were reviewed with the stakeholders.
Sanda clarified that the minor adjustment, which the regulation allows, however, did not happen across the network strata.
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