Jul 28, 2025 (Daily Trust/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) --
Citizens in several states of the federation have continued to grapple with epileptic electricity supply and soaring bills.
From industrial hubs in Kano, Borno and Kaduna states to households in Lagos, Ogun, Benue and Plateau, residents and small business owners, who spoke to Daily Trust, expressed frustration over a system they said had failed them.
But the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, through his media aide, Bolaji Tunji, said said the government was trying to resolve the problems, emphasising that "we won't get there overnight."
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had, on February 9, 2024, signed the Nigeria's Electricity Act (Amendment) Bill to decentralise power generation and allow the states to take charge of their needs.
Under the Act, the states have the authority to control and regulate electricity within their domains. They have the freedom to generate, transmit and distribute power using the existing facilities of the government.
Although the Act has been domesticated in 11 states: Enugu, Ondo, Ekiti, Imo, Oyo, Edo, Kogi, Lagos, Ogun, Niger and Plateau, residents and business owners said the impact is yet to be felt, decrying irregular power supply and in some cases, low voltage.
The increase in electricity tariff for Band 'A' customers have also elicited complaints from consumers who said it was taking a huge toll on their finances.
Last Thursday, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had said the Enugu Electricity Regulatory Commission (EERC) lacks the regulatory power to fix the electricity price when the power is generated and transmitted from the national grid. This followed the reduction of tariff for Band A customers in the state.
Residents, businesses pay more for less
Many of the consumers placed on Band A, which promises 20 hours of power daily or more, told Daily Trust that they were under the weight of high tariffs and poor services.
Some of the customers also decried the huge amounts of money they were meant to pay through the estimated bills as they do not have meters to get fair billing.
According to the NERC, 6,468,036 of the 13,767,884 registered electricity customers across the 12 distribution companies were metered as of March 31, 2025, leaving 53.2 percent unmetered.
In Kano, industrialists in Sharada and Dakata industrial areas said they spend millions monthly on electricity while still relying on generators due to inconsistent supply.
The allocation of power distributed by the Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) had, in the past three weeks, dropped from 300megawats to 130mw over what the KEDCO attributed to the reduced allocation from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) due to an ongoing maintenance on the 330KV Shiroro-Kaduna transmission line.
The reduced allocation is being shared to the three franchise states of KEDCO: Kano, Katsina and Jigawa.
Twenty seven of the 43 areas allocated to enjoy steady light on Band A from KEDCO are in Kano State; while the remaining 16 are in Katsina and Jigawa.
Most of those areas in Kano fall under places identified as industrial areas, mostly in Challawa, Sharada, Bompai and Dakata.
A small-scale industrialist in the state, Yusuf Bello Yakasai, who operates in the Sharada Industrial area, said over 60 percent of his profit goes to electricity bills amid declining supply.
He said, "If you visit Sharada and Dakata industrial estates, most of us pay N260 per unit. So, for us who use heavy industry machines that consume a lot of light, we end up using the bulk of our earnings to pay bills.
"For someone like me, despite having a small-scale recycling industry, I pay as much as N4 million monthly. So, if you deduct that from my monthly earnings, you will see that about two-third of the profit is gone. And even at that, the supply has recently been very low," he lamented.
Yakasai also complained that the supply is not only expensive but also unstable.
"We don't get up to the promised number of hours. Sometimes they bring the light, and the moment production starts, it goes off. We're forced to switch to generators while the meter continues to record usage."
Another small-scale industry owner in the state, Habibu Sulaiman, said he pays up to N2m monthly, which is about 65 percent of his total profit.
He called on the federal government to restore electricity subsidies for industries, arguing that no investor would put money in a system where there is little or no return.
"We help the government by providing jobs for the citizens, so if the environment we operate in is not favourable, others won't be motivated to join us," Sulaiman said.
Another Band A user in Kano, Adamu Ismail, said he has begun switching to solar energy due to high tariffs and unreliable supply.
"In a few months, I'll have all the equipment I need to run my home entirely on solar. I can't keep spending over N200,000 every month on electricity. It's just not sustainable."
Yakubu Usman, a Band A customer in the Jambulo area of Kano metropolis, said the recent drop in supply is affecting both households and businesses.
He urged the state to take advantage of the recent constitutional amendment allowing states to generate electricity.
"I learned that states can now produce their own electricity. Kano should lead the way, given its economic importance," Usman said.
In Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, businesses and several banks said they are operating almost entirely on diesel as they allege that the power supply is often less than three hours a day.
The manager of Maiduguri Flour Mills, Mohammed Bukar, said: "We only get two to three hours of electricity supply daily, and most times, the voltage is low, which has forced us to switch to generators.
"We virtually operate our businesses on diesel, because you can't afford failure at the peak of production due to the epileptic power supply.
"We decided to cut off from the grid when the problem persisted because our machines got spoiled due to unsteady current supply and the outrageous bills of N500,000 or N1m at the end of the month.
"We now operate strictly on generators, struggling with diesel costs that eat into our profits. That has forced us to restructure our operations," he said.
He lamented that most of the industries in Maiduguri have closed down because of electricity issues.
A manager of a first-generation bank in Maiduguri said the Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC) has been inflating bills despite erratic service.
"We're yet to understand the outrageous bills we get every month from YEDC. Sometimes, we endure days of epileptic supply, yet our bills increase.
"If we paid N500,000 last month, this month it's N650,000 or even N700,000. Whether we use electricity or not, the bills never go down.
"This is increasing the cost of doing business, and the burden is eventually passed on to customers," he said.
Kaduna
In Kaduna, small business owners say electricity tariffs now take up over 60 per cent of their income, with some calling the band classification system a "mistake" that punishes loyal consumers.
Abraham Benson, Managing Director of BEMAK International, a printing firm in Kaduna, said the combination of economic hardship and rising power costs is unbearable for small businesses.
"The tariff is killing small businesses," Benson said. "The economy is already hard, and rising tariffs from all sides are biting us. It's affecting every aspect of our operations."
He added that the entire business environment is tough, with no relief in sight.
"Electricity is high, fuel is expensive, and raw materials are unaffordable. It's just not encouraging anymore."
Benson also criticised the Band A-D classification system, calling it unfair to consumers.
"This whole idea of Band A, B, C, D--the so-called tariff segregation--is not the best approach. If electricity is available and tariffs are uniform, more people will pay.
"But now, higher bands mean higher operating costs for us, which affects our pricing and reduces competitiveness," he said.
Lawal Umar, who runs a large tailoring business in Kaduna, also expressed frustration with the band tariff structure.
"The benefit of the Band A plan is the regular electricity supply, but the charges are quite high, and you just have to endure it. It doesn't really affect the work because we're still able to meet our needs, to be honest. However, it has slightly affected the prices of our services," he stated.
When contacted yesterday to explain what the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) was doing to get the distribution companies to supply power regularly, the General Manager, Public Affairs of the commission, Usman Arabi, neither answered calls to his mobile telephone line nor replied to a message sent to him.
Similarly, the spokespersons of the Yola, Kaduna, Ibadan and Abuja Electricity Distribution Companies, Gbenga Adebola, Abdulazeez Abdullahi, Busolami Tunwase and Adefisayo Akinsanya respectively, did not respond to calls and messages sent to their mobile telephone lines by our correspondents, seeking their reactions to the allegations of poor electricity supply and outrageous bills.
Benue, Plateau residents call govs to action
Edwin Torkuma, a resident of Makurdi, Benue State, expressed optimism "that power supply will improve greatly when the state begins to generate its own electricity. In fact, it will have multiple positive effects on businesses and boost income."
Monica Itodo, another resident of the state, said: "I have been hearing that Benue plans to generate its own electricity which is a good thing, but I really doubt if this promise can be actualised. It's more like another campaign project."
Abubakar Dashe, a resident of Jos in Plateau State, said if the state generates its own power, "I am confident that things will go well because there will be competition, and as such, prices will go down. So, we expect the electricity tariff to be lower than what we're experiencing."
In Lagos, some Band A customers, especially traders and residents of Obawole and Iju-Ishaga areas of the state, said they were in a fix over "outrageous" electricity bills.
They, however, admitted that they were enjoying regular power supply.
"This Band A thing does not make sense at all. The bill is giving everybody a setback. If you recharge electricity worth N30, 000 or N17,500, it may last for just a day and some hours. For instance, I will pay the bill and will still be buying ice blocks.
It does not make sense. I am not going forward," a female trader in Obawole, said in a viral video.
Residents of Akinola-Aboru communities in Lagos on Band A demanded that the area be degraded to Band B because of the exorbitant amounts they were spending on electricity.
A former chairman of Peace Estate at Aboru area of Lagos, Olawale Famutimi, said: "This band grading has caused problems in many compounds where three to four people are using one prepaid meter and they always disagree. Some houses don't even use light because it is too expensive.
"Let them reverse to Band B and give meters to everybody, then one can decide or consider moving to Band A by choice."
Lawal Kazeem of Tebun Fagbemi Street, Kollington, Alagbado, Lagos, said they enjoy regular power supply, but expressed worry over the outrageous electricity bills.
A resident of Abeokuta, Ogun State, Mrs Akinsanya, said her community in Obada area was moved from Band A to C due to an allegation of electricity bypass by some households.
"Most times, there will be power supply in Obada Estate while the next community that shares a connection with them will not have light.
"Sometimes, for three days at a stretch, we won't have power supply," she said.
For Florence Ajayi, the upgrade of her estate in Lugbe has led to the control of how she consumes electricity in her house.
Ajayi said before the tariff, she was using N2,000 electricity for a week but now she spends about N7,000.
"The electricity is always available and if I don't monitor my usage, it will cost me lots of money. I spent at least N25, 000 in a month on electricity and it is just the fridge that is the only high-consuming appliance I use."
Also, Imam Yahaya said though his community in Efab area is on Band A, "It is outrageous that the electricity supply I get is not up to 20 hours.
"I am not sure that we get the supply as required because I know some of my friends who are still on Band B in the same area. I don't know whether it is due to the meter. I can't iron my clothes due to the way the token disappears with appliances. I hope the tariff increment is just an experiment because if it continues this way, more people will not be able to afford electricity," he said.
Experts urge states to focus on local generation
Adetayo Adegbemle, Convener of PowerUp Nigeria, has urged states to use their natural advantages, like coal in Enugu or solar potential in Jigawa, to attract private investment and generate affordable electricity.
"You can't demand lower tariffs for power you don't generate. For a state like Enugu, I would have expected them to start generating with coal so that prices of electricity can be brought down to their desired tariff," he said.
Lanre Elatuyi, another expert, warned against focusing on tariff battles without fixing generation and distribution capacity.
"Tariff reduction doesn't solve the real problem if people are still left in darkness. The issue is that without guaranteeing reliable supply for the people and without increasing the capacity of electricity being off-taken by or being delivered to people, the issue of tariff is just to bring a bit of diversion."
Problems being resolved - Minister's spokesman
When contacted, Bolaji Tunji, the media aide to the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, said it was wrong to say the power sector had not improved.
He said: "There will be a little bit of complaints because we won't get there overnight. These are problems that developed over the years, but this government is trying to resolve all of them. Just last Friday, we commissioned some projects in Oyo State, which is to further strengthen the grid. It is part of the Siemens project, which is basically to strengthen the grid.
"The final stage of the Siemens deal is what we are doing presently before phase 1 will start. So, saying there is no improvement is quite wrong. There has been improvement. As you can see, we have not had any grid collapse this year."
COMTEX_467620824/2029/2025-07-28T04:31:50
by Faruk Shuaibu (Abuja), Sani Ibrahim Paki (Kano), Mohammed Ibrahim Yaba (Kaduna), Hamisu Kabir Matazu (Maiduguri), Hope Abah (Makurdi), Ado Abubakar Musa (Jos) & Peter Moses (Lagos)
Copyright 2025 Daily Trust. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
