Enjoying life in ‘Band A’

BY TONY OKOROJI

There must be a new brilliant genius at the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) or the Power Ministry. The age-old problem concerning the supply of electricity in Nigeria appears to have suddenly been solved with this new idea of dividing the country into Bands A to E. What NEPA could not do, PHCN could not do, the DISCOs have done!

When we were told that electricity customers under the recently manufactured “Band A” are to “enjoy” 20 – 24 hours electricity daily, I thought it was a joke. It is not. In the modest estate where I live and presently have to dance to the DISCO music of Band A, there is much improved supply of electricity. Can you believe it that when the power goes, it comes back in minutes? In Nigeria? Yes!

The challenge is that except you are engaged in 419, or you do Yahoo-Yahoo, or have a pipe tapped into government coffers, when the power is available you cannot ‘enjoy’ it because you cannot pay for it.

Please, except you are a pirate, how do you enjoy music that you cannot afford? Suddenly, my otherwise well-lit estate is in real darkness at night. Despite the availability of electricity supplied by Ikeja Disco (IKEDC), almost no security light in any building is now turned on at night. Is it that we no longer care about the safety of our lives and property? No! With the economic situation, we have had to make a hard choice between safety and bankruptcy.

The electricity prepaid device in my residence seems to have gone mad. Since the tariff review, it has behaved like my enemies have sent it to ruin my life. It is racing and swallowing money like a drunkard. No matter how much you put into it, the money will disappear in a few days.

We have had to set up a committee to make sense out of the nonsense going on with the new electricity regime. Some of the decisions we have taken are to unplug all the air conditioners in the house. The A/C in my bedroom is now turned on for 3 hours at night. The deep freezer in the kitchen is only switched on at night when it is not opened because everyone is in bed.

READ ALSO: CBN’s regulations risk hampering economic…

No cooking with the hot plate is allowed. No light is turned on anywhere in the house for any period that is not absolutely necessary. We monitor the use of electricity like our life depends on it but even at that, we are spending far too much money. We are learning how to enjoy living in darkness.

Nigeria remains an interesting place. When many citizens cried out that the astronomical increase in electric tariff is not sustainable, our democratic and listening government stepped in. We were informed that NERC has approved a downward review of end-user tariffs for Band “A” customers from NGN225/kWh to NGN206.8/kWh. That is a reduction of =N=18 or 8% per kWh. This is no different from the old trick of hiking petrol price astronomically and bringing it down a little after a national protest.

Let the truth be told. The scheme is to get more money from those Nigerians who have been paying their bills. Where they will find the money does not matter. In other words, punish the law-abiding citizens and make them pay for the electricity used by other citizens who do not pay their bills.

It is no longer news that a majority of government agencies including Aso Rock, the Federal Secretariat, the Army, Airforce, Police and other Security agencies routinely do not pay their electricity bills. The DISCOs appear to be too scared to disconnect them, so to balance their books, they create this new scheme that has made electricity practically unaffordable to those Nigerians who pay their bills.

Pray, where else in the world, will a service provider have the temerity to overnight increase the cost of his service by this much? From where will his customers get the money to pay in this economy? Shortly after, from the pit of hell comes the cyber security levy. Wow!

I think that someone in leadership has decided to make all Nigerians criminals. It is only criminals that can comfortably survive in the Nigeria of today. The managers of our electric power might find out that in the end, they might not get the big money they anticipate. As it is said in Latin, “Nemo dat quoad none habet” – you cannot give that which you do not have. Many will significantly reduce their electricity consumption or find cheaper alternatives. Many may also resort to by-passing the meters of the Discos, in which case they pay nothing at all. They one principle that does not change is that man must devise a way to survive whether in Band A or Band E or no Band at all.

QUOTE:

The challenge is that except you are engaged in 419, or you do Yahoo-Yahoo, or have a pipe tapped into government coffers, when the power is available you cannot ‘enjoy’ it because you cannot pay for it. Please, except you are a pirate, how do you enjoy music that you cannot afford? Suddenly, my otherwise well-lit estate is in real darkness at night. Despite the availability of electricity supplied by Ikeja Disco (IKEDC), almost no security light in any building is now turned on at night. Is it that we no longer care about the safety of our lives and property? No! With the economic situation, we have had to make a hard choice between safety and bankruptcy.