Can we really afford an uninterrupted power supply?
Nigerians living in Nigeria are praying fervently for 24 hours power supply but the big elephant in the room is this:
Can we really afford an uninterrupted power supply?
Let me share my story:
Electricity improved overnight in my estate this month, it was a miracle and a prayer answered for me that works with light.
I was elated as you cant compare the inconvenience that comes with running a generator to the peace and tranquillity which comes with a regular power supply.
But that joy was short-lived this afternoon when my cousin who stays with me and who is in charge of the household expenses was giving me a breakdown of how much he spent this month on expenses and then when it came to light, he mentioned 60k.
60 what?
60K he continued with a straight face and then provided an e-receipts of the electricity units he bought from Buy power to show that truly that is what we consumed.
For proper context, I use to pay between 10-15k monthly before this month hence my shock.
Since I migrated to prepaid, we have stopped using many energy-consuming appliances in my house, I have cousins living with me but none uses the AC’s in the rooms to sleep except me because I don’t use Fan so I don’t understand where the outrageous billing from Ikeja disco is coming from
I wanted to cry, to be honest, tears were already dropping but again, I remembered I have been craving for a regular uninterrupted power supply and the result is out.
Another thing that many people don’t know is that the Nigerian government are currently subsidizing the power supply for Nigerians by paying 30 billion naira monthly to Gencos and Discos so that we can enjoy a cheap power supply even though it is not cheap for consumers at the moment.
However, the sad news is that this government is tired of subsidizing power for all of us so they want to hands-off from next year, it is expected that electricity operators whether Genco or Disco should be able to generate its revenue from the power sector market when they stop.
When the Nigerian government finally stops subsidizing electricity, the prices of electricity will inevitably go haywire.
Only the super-rich and billionaires will be able to afford to use the electricity supply when that time comes.
Also, It will be a normal thing to see electricity in the neighbourhood but many households will be in darkness, the reason is that they can’t afford to pay the new electricity tariff.
God help us in this country.
