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Power consumers install transformers, buy cables, others as Discos abandon roles for residents

Many electricity consumers have lamented how power distribution companies have abdicated their duties to provide electricity infrastructure to them, GODFREY GEORGE writes

A 44-year-old businesswoman and mother of two, Mrs Oge Atunwa, has known no peace since she and her family moved into a two-bedroom apartment in the Mushin area of Lagos State.

“Since I moved into this neighbourhood in 2021, our transformer has developed fault four times, and in those four times, it was fixed by us consumers,” Atunwa, told our correspondent.

According to her, it has become a regular occurrence for her to get messages on the estate WhatsApp group, asking her to make contributions towards the repairs of a power facility whenever it broke down.

In March, she said there was a wind that disrupted power flow in the area, as it pushed down some wires.

“We were the ones who came together to buy the wire back. This was after we had called the Eko Electricity Distribution Company countless times but they did not show up. We had to get an independent electrician, whom we paid, to do the connection.

“It is so sad that we would buy wire, metre, fix the electric pole, transformer and still pay the crazy bills that are brought to us at the end of the month for those of us who don’t use metres. It is not as if we the light is steady. We still have to support ourselves by buying generating sets, installing solar panels and inverters just to make sure our lives are better,” she noted.

In Ikosi Road, Ketu, Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos State, a customer of the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (Ikeja Electric), Mrs Munirin Saidi, said she was exhausted from fixing public electricity assets.

“I moved in here in 2022, and I have contributed over N100,000 at different intervals because of light,” she lamented.

Two weeks after she moved in, she said the light in her house suddenly went off, and all efforts to fix it proved abortive.

Later that evening, she was told it was a ‘general issue’.

Inquiring further, her neighbours told her a fruit van, trying to access the Ikosi Market pushed a pole down and cut power flow.

According to her, she had to share the N30,000 levy with five of her neighbours.

After two weeks, she said there was a spark in the area and some wires were burnt.

Again, contributions were made. According to her, N10,000 was demanded for each flat.

Asked if IKEDC was invited during these times, she said, “They came. They were the ones who suggested that we make the payment and fix it, because, according to them, if we wait for them, it may take too much time.

“I sell frozen foods. I cannot afford to leave my freezer off for an entire day. I will lose thousands of naira. So, before wasting my time to wait for any official, I just fix it myself,” she said.

‘We bought pole with our money’

Some residents in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State have lamented how they have been left to pay for the electricity infrastructure in the area.

A mother of five, Mrs Ibienye Tuotamuno, said she was used to always paying for power infrastructure.

“Once there is any fault in the area, we are the ones who pay for it. Recently, our electric pole fell and power for disconnected. For weeks, we called the PH disco to come and fix it. They didn’t respond.”

Another woman in the area, who said her name was Mrs Chinenye, told our correspondent that the community member recently contributed money to get an electric pole and some wires for themselves.

Asked if they involved the Disco, she said, “We called them and they didn’t show up.”

Borno residents

Residents of Maiduguri metropolis contribute cash to fix their electricity supply problems without the Yola Electricity Distribution Company refunding them.

“Right now, each household is contributing N3,000 towards replacing the cables that supply power to our transformer from the pole, which was recently stolen by cable thieves,” Bukar Ngari, a resident of 303 Housing Estate, Bama Road, Maiduguri, told Sunday PUNCH.

“The well-to-do among us even contribute N10,000 to N20,000, depending on individual wherewithal, towards collecting N500,000 for both the cable and the fencing of the transformer and the employment of a security personnel to guard the transformer against cable thieves,” he disclosed further.

“However, when a state government commissioner resident at the estate heard of the effort, he offered to pay the whole N500,000 to the YEDC for the cable and the labour of linking it to the pole to restore electricity.

“This means, our household contributions will be spent on fencing the transformer and employing the security guard.

“We are not expecting any refund from the YEDC; we have never heard of anyone refunded for spending money to fix an electricity problem from the transformer or supply pole,” Ngari said.

At Mamman Yazo Street, in the Mafoni Ward of the area, Musa Ibrahim and other residents have decided to contribute cash to buy cables for the restoration of the electricity supply they have not enjoyed for a year now.

“Since the second day of Ramadan of 2023, when our transformer developed a fault, we have not enjoyed electricity,” he disclosed to our correspondent.

“Each household head is now contributing whatever he can afford towards buying the cable with which YEDC will re-root electricity supply to us from another transformer,” Ibrahim disclosed further, saying, “I contributed N5,000 just today (Saturday, April 20).”

He said the residents of the ward should not expect any refund from YEDC, querying, “Have you ever heard of Discos refunding electricity consumers whatever they have spent on transformers, cables or poles?”

Darkness in Gombe

Mr Joshua Benjamin, a resident of Nayinawa in Gombe State narrated how their transformer that was damaged for weeks forced them into nights of darkness.

According to Benjamin, the incident had been a reoccurring situation, adding that the transformer was initially donated to his vicinity by a lawmaker.

“When it happens, we usually task ourselves to get JEDC officials to repair it and the responses are not always favourable,” he said.

Also speaking, Naomi Bako, who resides around Bagadaza told our correspondent a similar story, saying that the failure of residents to take responsibility would mean the area would be engulfed in darkness.

She added, “We usually pray that no harm befalls our transformer Because some of the times it takes long to get it repaired. The JEDC officials don’t care all they know how to do is to bill us and not about ensuring the property functions optimally.”

We’ve been buying our transformers ourselves – S’East residents

The Chairman, Community Development Association of Onwuachusim, Awada, Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State, Chief Silas Nwankwo, has lamented that residents have been the ones buying their transformers whenever they develop a fault.

Nwankwo, who spoke to our correspondent on the telephone, on Saturday, said, “Residents have been the ones contributing to buy transformers whenever it gets spoilt. It will interest you to know that we have bought over two transformers in the area in the last two years.

“Just six months ago, we contributed and bought our current transformer when the old one packed up. The EEDC, which distributes power in the South-East refused to replace the old one for us after it got damaged. We stayed in blackout for nearly a year before the residents decided to contribute over N4 million to buy the current transformer.

“We have never got any refunds in any form from the EEDC since we started buying transformers. We also bought all the cables and installed all the poles all by ourselves.

“Even when we bought the transformer from the Main Market in Onitsha, we had to pay over N30 million additionally before the staff of the EEDC came to power the transformer for us.”

When also contacted, the convener, South-East Electricity Consumers Association, Revd Okechukwu Obioha, said residents in the area have been the ones responsible for changing faulty transformers and cables, even though it is the responsibility of the disco to do so.

He added that, in the last 40 years, no disco has supplied transformers to any area in the region, adding that due to the development and the incessant outages in the region, have decided to embark on a one-month warning boycott.

Obioha said the position to embark on the boycott was made known after a stakeholders’ meeting held simultaneously across the five states of the region on April 4.

He explained that some of the resolutions at the end of the meeting include, “From this day, April 4, 2024, no consumer of electricity under the DisCo, EEDC, should pay for prepaid meter/s. Meter/s is the property of EEDC and therefore by law must be issued free to consumers.

“No individual/s or community/ies should buy or provide transformers for their electricity consumption. If that is very unavoidable, the transformer procurement should be done after negotiations and MoUs with the EEDC or Geometrics. In that case if feasible, the cost of the transformer/s should be imputed in the energy usage of the consumers involved by the Disco.

“The Disco must give at least two weeks’ notice after delivery of bills on consumption as estimated if not contested, before cutting off lights.

“We demand that estimated bills be stopped and prepaid meters issued to all consumers or else, consumers’ lights must not be cut.

“We frowned upon and condemned the 300 per cent increase in tariff announced by the Federal Government and strongly request that prepaid meters be installed in every household and business before the implementation,” he said.

Power privatisation journey

In March 2005, the Energy Power Sector Reform Act came into force leading to the cessation of the National Electric Power Authority.

Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution which were together under NEPA were separated into different business operations in the sector.

Currently, there are 11 electricity successor electricity distribution companies namely the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company PLC; Benin Electricity Distribution Company PLC; Eko Electricity Distribution Company PLC; Enugu Electricity Distribution Company PLC; Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company PLC; Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company PLC; Jos Electricity Distribution Company PLC; Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company PLC; Kano Electricity Distribution Company PLC; Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company PLC and Yola Electricity Distribution Company PLC.

However, these companies were under the umbrella of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria which was later unbundled in 2013 when power generation and distribution were further privatised giving investors more or total ownership.

The AEDC, according to its website, covers the Federal Capital Territory, Niger, Kogi and Nasarawa States with a total land mass of 133,000 km2.

The company is organized into nine Regions and 39 Area Offices across the aforementioned four states.

BEDC stated on its website that is responsible for the retail distribution of electricity in Delta, Edo, Ekiti, and Ondo States with a geographical coverage of 57,353 square kilometres.

The company operates from 27 business districts with approximately 350 offices located across four states with about 18 million people, about four million households, and an effective customer population of 1,291,181 as of September 2023.

Eko Electricity Distribution Plc, in an article on its website, stated that it provides power to the southern part of Lagos State and the Agbara community in Ogun State.

These licensed areas are segmented into 11 districts – Lekki, Ibeju, Islands, Orile, Ijora, Apapa, Mushin, Festac, Ojo, Ajah and Agbara.

Receiving between 11 and 15 per cent of the total energy allocation from the national grid, the Company procures bulk electricity from Akangba, Ajah and Ikeja West transmission stations.

The EEDC supplies power to the South-Eastern part of the country.

IBEDC, said to be the largest electricity distribution company in Nigeria, supplies power across Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Kwara, and parts of Niger, Ekiti and Kogi states.

Ikeja Electic supplies power to areas in Lagos not covered by the EKEDC. JEDC supplies power to Benue, Plateau, Bauchi and Gombe.

Kaduna Electric, which was privatised on December 4, 2014 and located in the North-Western part of Nigeria, has a distribution license to serve customers in four states – Kaduna, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara. It, according to its website, covers 84 LGAs, spreading over 150,000 KM2 of power.

The Kano disco supplies power to all LGs in Kano and its environs.

The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company is a private electric distributor that provides power for a total of 14 million people in 4 states of Nigeria including Rivers, Bayelsa, Cross River and Akwa Ibom.

YEDC supplies power to Adamawa State, Taraba, Borno, and Yobe states.

Formally privatised on November 1, 2013, but was handed back to the Government. It was formally taken over by Quest Electricity Nigeria Limited on 1st January 2022.

Last Monday, the Federal Government said it had commenced the restructuring of the 11 discos in the country.

Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, disclosed this while speaking during the visit of the Senate Committee on Power to the Ministry of Power and the Transmission Company of Nigeria in Abuja on Monday.

The government also ordered the sale of DisCos that have been taken over by banks and the Assets Management Corporation.

Five distribution companies are currently under the management of banks and AMCON due to their inability to repay their loans to financial institutions.

The Abuja DisCo is under the management of the United Bank of Africa, while Fidelity Bank manages the Benin DisCo, Kaduna DisCo and Kano DisCo.

The Ibadan DisCo is under the AMCON management.

Addressing the Senate Committee on Power on Monday, Mr Adelabu said, “We are unbundling the DisCos along state lines.

“Some of the DisCos are too big for efficiency. They are too big for effectiveness. Ibadan DisCo covers seven states. It is practically impossible for them to be efficient.

“So we are rearranging and restructuring the DisCos along state lines so that each state government will know the responsible DisCo for their states. Also, the federal and state governments should start exercising their rights in the operation and management of the DisCos because we still own 40 per cent of the firms.

“But we have left it for the private sector operators for too long, and they have messed it up. So, the government must return to take over its rights in the DisCos. We are also planning to franchise the unserved communities under the DisCos,” Adelabu said.

He said the decisions on the DisCos have become necessary because the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry fails when they refuse to perform.

He added that the ministry will prevail on the Nigerian Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission to revoke underperforming licences and change the management board of the DisCos for non-performance.

Adelabu had said in December 2023 that the country got about 40,000 megawatts of electricity from generators powered by Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, and those run by Automotive Gas Oil, also known as diesel.

He disclosed this at the ministerial summit on the Integrated National Electricity Policy and Strategic Implementation Plan while examining the key challenges to Nigeria’s electricity reliability through the prism of governance, adherence to rules/contracts and finance.

Nigeria’s power generation and supply from its national grid revolves between 3,500MW and 4,500MW for an estimated population of 200 million people.

In his address at the summit, he pointed out that one of the main objectives of the Nigerian electricity sector reform programme initiated over 23 years ago was to make electricity available to consumers across the country with efficiency and consistency.

This, however, had yet to be achieved, rather, according to the minister, Nigeria had continued to burn hundreds of billions of naira to generate electricity through diesel- and petrol-powered generators.

He stated that electricity consumption per capita in Nigeria was at 140 kilowatt-hour in 2021, relatively low in comparison to neighbouring countries and almost three times lower than the average for Sub-Saharan Africa.

Adelabu said, “Nigeria is a case study in a deep electricity paradox. Nigeria has grown to become the host of probably the world’s largest fleet of diesel- and petrol-powered generation capacity that is utilised for baseload supply.

“Various figures have been mentioned but it is safe to say that this fleet measures no less than 40,000MW of total capacity.

“At an average operating cost of no less than N250/kWh as opposed to an average economic tariff today of approximately N120/kWh (weighted between petrol and diesel generation), the daily cost of this extreme inefficiency in electricity supply in Nigeria is measurable in tens of billions of naira daily.”

Power palaver

Experts have noted that Nigeria has the potential to generate 12,522 MW of electricity from the existing infrastructure but it can only manage about 4,000 MW.

With a population of over 200 million, approximately 55 per cent do not have access to electricity, according to Statista.

For Nigeria’s population, this is grossly insufficient, according to statistics by PowerAfrica, a United States government-led partnership.

The Federal Government also recently noted that despite all its efforts, including sinking over N5 trillion into electricity subsidies in the last few years, over 100 million Nigerians still do not have access to reliable power supply.

Incessant grid collapses and issues with estimated billing, amongst others, have made power elusive for the average Nigerian.

Where it all began

Adelabu speaking with the House of Representatives recently stated that the electricity problem started in the era of privatisation.

“Not that the privatisation has a problem in itself, but its implementation and execution have robbed the process of its laudable objectives. We believe people who bought the power companies lack the expertise to run the utility firms. Secondly, they were not buoyant enough in terms of financial buoyancy to pay for the power plants.

“All of them used bank loans to pay for the assets. And we all know that the power business is a long-term business. It is not something you recoup your capital and make a profit in a short time. So, they were all under pressure to repay the bank loans that they used to acquire the power companies.

“This is why, today, a number of them have been taken over by their lenders, either AMCON or the banks, both local and international banks. They also promised to invest and enhance the distribution network, but they did not do this,” he said.

The minister added that over 100 power transmission projects have remained uncompleted since 2001.

“Since 2001 till date we have over 100 uncompleted projects of the Transmission Company of Nigeria. So when we say the government has spent so much in the sector, it is true. But all the spending has not translated to a good impact on power users.

“This is because the majority of these projects have not been completed, though some of them are 80 or 90 per cent completed. We have over 65 projects on power substations that are still ongoing since 2001, which was 23 years ago,” he added.

‘Discos defrauding customers’

An electricity consumer advocacy group says the electricity distribution companies in Nigeria have been defrauding customers who provide electricity transformers, poles and cables in their various communities.

The distribution companies were accused of exploiting the loopholes in the Network Expansion Investment Policy to the detriment of unsuspecting communities.

The Executive Director of the Electricity Consumer Protection Advocacy Centre in Abuja, Princewill Okorie, said the Network Expansion Investment Policy initiated by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission was designed to encourage third-party investments aimed at enhancing the expansion of the electrical network.

However, instead of benefiting communities, the policy is allegedly being manipulated by Discos for their gain instead of refunding the communities.

There have been complaints about Nigerians providing power infrastructure in the localities, including transformers, electricity poles, cables, and others. This they do amid bribery to have the infrastructure installed by the officials of the Discos.

Speaking in an interview with our correspondent, in a telephone conversation on Saturday, Okorie, said, “This comes under Network Expansion Investment Policy. It is a policy that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission initiated.

“It means when third parties that are not the licensees put in money to provide the infrastructure that will enhance the expansion of the power network, the people are supposed to get a refund for that investment.

In other words, they are supposed to go into an agreement with the distribution licensee before they invest”.

Okorie further added that due to a lack of enlightenment, communities who were desperate for electricity would be compelled by the distribution companies to sign an undertaking that the transformers and other items procured were donated to them; an act he described as fraud.

“What is happening is that there is no enlightenment about that policy. So, most consumers don’t know. And out of frustration, communities that do not have electricity will want to provide those things.

“Instead of educating them on the conditions of doing it so that they can recover their investments, what the distribution companies will tell them is that they should sign an undertaking that they have donated the items to the company so that they won’t come back to demand a refund.

“The communities will now sign off their investments as donations to the distribution licensees. And wickedly, the distribution companies will still include it in their capital expenditure when reporting to NERC, claiming that the infrastructure consumers provided was bought with their capex.

“So, when they talk of electricity theft, what of DisCos fraud such as this one? This is fraud committed by the DisCos,” he claimed.

The consumer protection activist stated that the DisCos are supposed to use their operational expenditure for the repair of transformers, falling poles and others.

“But they don’t do that. It is still the same consumers that will do these things, and they will report that they use their operational expenditure to serve the consumers. With this, more money will be approved for them by the Federal Government.

“The billions of naira being approved for the Discos as opex and capex, what are they doing with it? Why is there no department that drives consumer protection policy in the power sector?” he asked.

He added that the communities lost their investment, and they are still paying the service providers who took it over from them by force.

“What kind of system is that? The robbery, stealing and extortion of the DisCos is far more than this electricity theft they talk about,” he quipped.

The Executive Director of the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors, Sunday Oduntan, could not be reached for comments as he did not answer calls to his phone.

Discos subverting regulations – NERC

Officials of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission explained that there is a regulation that allows customers to invest in electricity networks of power distribution companies and should be refunded by the Discos.

However, they noted that the Discos often frustrate customers and usually subvert the regulation, a development that has made it difficult for customers to get the required refunds.

In the Regulations for Investments in Electricity Networks in Nigeria, 2025, the NERC stated “These regulations provide for the procedure for investing in electricity networks in Nigeria.

“The objectives of these Regulations are mainly to create strong incentives to encourage the TCN and the DISCOs to make appropriate and sustainable investments in capacity expansion.”

Communities don’t carry DisCos along – IBEDC

Meanwhile, the spokesperson of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company, Busolami Tunwase, said most communities do not carry their DisCos along before purchasing the power installations.

While acknowledging that the DisCos have the obligation to buy equipment or make refunds where it was purchased by the customers, she emphasised that the DisCo must be informed for an MoU.

“What the NERC order says is that, for any installation that a community chooses to buy, it is our obligation to buy those things; but for some reason – maybe, if there is a paucity of funds and they decide to buy it – they are supposed to carry us along.

“We are supposed to sit down and have an understanding to know what they want to buy. We both will then agree on what should be bought, the mode of repayment and all that before any purchase is made.

“So, there will be an agreement binding between them and the DisCos. If that is done, we have to work with the agreement.

“What we have noticed so far is that most of those communities will not carry the DisCos along.

“If they’ve gone to purchase it by themselves without consulting with us and now ask us to refund, it doesn’t work that way. That is not what the law says,” Tunwase stated.