Electricity Industry in Nigeria
Grid Electricity for Homes
Being a
Nigerian or residing in Nigeria can be very tough. If you have experienced
Nigeria then you should be aware that Electricity is a very difficult commodity
to come by and you must know that getting ten hours of electricity in Nigeria
everyday is nearly impossible. Furthermore, the electricity bills are coming in
every month with fixed and usage charges; and with the advent of privatization
we will be expecting increment as well.
In addition,
over 60% of households Nigerians generate their electricity using privately owned
petrol or diesel generators; also, private businesses that depend on electricity
to function generate their electricity using generators. It will be more
illustrating if we analyse fuel consumption and its costs.
 |
| Private generators in the same neighbourhood |
Do you run a fuelled generator in your home?
Probably, you run a 2.5kVA generator; but have you bothered to check on how
much you spend running your petrol or diesel fuelled generator? A 2.5kVA petrol
generator can run for seven hours on six litres of petrol, running this
generator for seven hours every day, for one year will consume 2,190 litres for
one year and this will amount to ₦212,430; note that this excludes generator
costs, maintenance and logistics, and I assumed the cost of petrol is ₦97.
Including maintenance and logistics costs, we will be having about ₦245, 000.
Furthermore, an average home consumes about 18,250kWh in a year from the grid
assuming if it receives power for ten hours daily for a year. Considering an
average home within Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company PHEDC, it
will ₦15.02 per kWh and a fixed charge of ₦700 monthly; consequently, an
average home will pay about ₦282,515 for ten hours of
electricity daily in a year. Therefore, for an average of 17 hours of
electricity daily, an average home will be paying ₦527, 465 in a year; and, to
have 24hours electricity an average home is expected to pay ₦772, 415 in a
year.
Grid Electricity for Business
As a business owner, depending on electricity
procured from the grid is a deliberate plan to terminate the business. Power
supply to businesses without a dedicated transformer via the grid can last for
about 2 hours maximum during business hours; consequently, businesses in
Nigeria run mainly on petrol or diesel generators. Cybercafés, banks, saloons,
copy centres, industries, just name them; every business in Nigeria never rely
on power from the grid. However, the cost of powering these businesses is
enormous and increasing due to the fluctuations in the cost of petrol or
diesel.
 |
| Rising cost of oil |
Let us take a look at a cybercafé that runs it
business on a 15kVA generator; period of operation is from 0800hrs to 2000hrs,
that is 16 hours. To run a 15kVA generator for 16 hours will at least 55 litres
of diesel at the cost of ₦150 per litre of diesel. Assuming this cybercafé operates
every day except Sundays, this implies that it will operate for 313 days in a
year; consequently, the cost of fuel consumed over a year will be about ₦2,575,542.86.
Note we are yet to include the cost of the generator and maintenance costs for
the generator.
Standards in the Electricity Industry
Are there standards in the electricity industry
in Nigeria?
Probably there were standards in the Nigerian
electricity industry, or there are standards at some levels. Electricity is
only experienced by consumers at distribution section, only the knowledgeable
in the field are aware of the other sections of grid electricity. Well, we are
glad most people do not know what goes on at the generation section, transmission
section, sub-stations, etc; probably there could have been lots of more fatal
incidents.
Why am I concerned about standards? At every
corner in Nigeria, everyone is a technician or ‘engineer’ depending on the
title that make the person feel important. A lot of buildings are not properly
wired, the entire wiring are not done with reference to standards, sometimes
these substandard connections cause electrocution, fires, and send faulty
feedbacks to distribution transformers which end up degrading the transformer
and the entire system.
Furthermore, another problem in our electricity
is illegal connection. The people that do these connections are not usually trained
on the job, they do the work based on what they pick in the streets, the
connections are not properly terminated, the wires used are substandard and
other gadgets used for connections are ignored and bypassed.
Another problem is the inefficient bill
collection system. Most times, when agents of the distribution company go about
their disconnection business, they tend to look for monetary kickbacks from
consumers; consequently, some consumers end up not being disconnected despite
owing the distribution company. This has reduced the authority rightful
bestowed on these agents because they engage in illegal activities during their
job.
 |
| Disorganised Wiring |
In addition, some consumers engage touts to
reconnect them back to the grid when there are disconnected by the distribution
company agents. Other consumers take it further by illegally hooking back their
lines on the distribution lines when the distribution company agents have left
the premises.
Possibly, the reason why most people tamper
with electrical connections is because we utilise overhead distribution system.
It is a very open and unsecure system of electricity distribution.
Investments,
investments, investments are need to achieve an efficient electricity system in
Nigeria but how are the investors going to recoup their investments with all
these lack of regulations and standards in the distribution sector.
No comments:
Post a Comment