That is wrong - we have tried to make the same argument about subsidising petrol and we've seen how inefficient and distorted the system is. It doesn't work!

with due respect. This is CRAP

subsidize petrol??

May be you ask OBJ what he did with $16bill and what Goodluck did with $3bill he signed out within 3wks.

And finally ask Onado how they make profit on masses suffering.

They have been removing subsidy since IBB, and it will never end.

What electricity and what tariff are they talking about

Useless people. They have barely increase power generation to 3,600 megawatts and the next thing on their thieving mind is to increase the tariff. Dead brains

All of una no well, u guys don't even thinking of other citizen who are on minimum wage that take just #12k home a month u ppl are talking of business and other person who use generator, this is some of de reason while civil servant are corrupt today cos of ppl like u guys who don't care whether they live or die.

It gives me concern when i hear about PHCN, this people are mere thiefs. To increase tarrif of what they dont supply is criminal, unjust, illegal and unlawful. God we gorge everybody according to his/her work.

The pricing is less of a concern if they can deliver the service. The incumbent tariffs are unsustainable without heavy govt subsidies, money that should be invested in improving the infrastructure.
Every party, from generation plants to the consumer, need to do their part. We need the government to accelerate the reforms in the sector, so that people can get what they are paying for.

Ukavwe:

All of una no well, u guys don't even thinking of other citizen who are on minimum wage that take just #12k home a month u ppl are talking of business and other person who use generator, this is some of de reason while civil servant are corrupt today cos of ppl like u guys who don't care whether they live or die.     

Don't mind them, they have forgotten that there are many nigerians that can not eat twice in a day. They only put big men and women(those that can afford generator) into consideration, what about those that can not afford carosine for their lantern? Shaloow thinkers!

otawa:

with due respect. This is CRAP

subsidize petrol??

May be you ask OBJ what he did with $16bill and what Goodluck did with $3bill he signed out within 3wks.

And finally ask Onado how they make profit on masses suffering.

They have been removing subsidy since IBB, and it will never end.

Again you are talking for the sake of talking and not making any sense. The FEDERAL GOVERNMENT is subsidizing the pump price of petrol - it costs more than the 65 naira per litre people are paying at the pump. If you have any contrary information post it and stop making irrelevant side comments with no substance.

Government officials stealing money or Oando making profits does not take away the fact that there is subsidy on petroleum products.

Like others have said, if you  believe they are not supplying, make sure you get a pre-paid meter once they are available so you can fully control what you are being charged.

Ukavwe:

All of una no well, u guys don't even thinking of other citizen who are on minimum wage that take just #12k home a month u ppl are talking of business and other person who use generator, this is some of de reason while civil servant are corrupt today cos of ppl like u guys who don't care whether they live or die.      

That person earning N12k a month could probably make more by farming or doing a laundry business or even selling recharge cards.

While you are at it why are you comfortable browsing the net when you could have given that money to someone who is poor? Are you really selfish?

Afam:

That person earning N12k a month could probably make more by farming or doing a laundry business or even selling recharge cards.

While you are at it why are you comfortable browsing the net when you could have given that money to someone who is poor? Are you really selfish?

12k per week or month.How can someone earn 12k in today's world.
Such a person can never feed his/her own mouth not to talk of buying candle or "atupa".

But the truth is that,there is a powerful cabal behind this power general mismagement.
Otedola is still the largest importer of diesel in Africa,dominating the entire local market.He will never upport deregulation.

PHCN should be disbanded , They have failed us.


There is no reason elecricity tarrif should be increased when power distribution is at its lowest.

Increasing the price of a non-existing service is more like a broad day light robbery.It can only happen in Nigeria,

Gbam!

They should even pay back the money they are owing to the masses due to many years of inefficient services and corruption. Every mess the consumers. Nigerian masses are not yet ripe to carry any other increment in what so ever utility.
Let them  get all the stolen money and take care of there so called rresponsibilities

Yes na o, jingle bell, jingle bell Godfather wants money fast . Jingle bell, Jingle bell election is around the corner.

Second base o jare.

if only there will be electricity. I would not mind paying more, so long as it is available. I ve got two gen sets that alternate just so my and my baby could sleep at night. Imagine how much I spend on petrol, the same appliest to my neighbors.

arogbowei:

if only there will be electricity. I would not mind paying more, so long as it is available. I ve got two gen sets that alternate just so my and my baby could sleep at night. Imagine how much I spend on petrol, the same appliest to my neighbors.

i quite agree wiv you there.

as long as the light is stable, then no problem in increasing the bill.

personally i dont think any price is too much for constant power,government cannot pay for everything just because some people are poor,nigeria's population is way too large for that kind of system.poor people should simply use less power and pay less bills thats it.PHCN provide steady and reliable power and charge as u may,who no fit afford turn of ur appliances simple

even if the tarif goes up and we get constant power its ok, but if no power and tarif goes up its robbery

@Afam i don't think u are in 9jar if u are u would not oppose my point of view, and as for de meter how many times have u seen a meter reader in ur area reading meters from house to house, well as for me in delta state they don't read or even check if de meter had been tempered with by an unauthorized person all they do is just come drop de bill and go most ppl don't even have meter not to talk of reading it.

Ukavwe:

@Afam i don't think u are in 9jar if u are u would not oppose my point of view, and as for de meter how many times have u seen a meter reader in your area reading meters from house to house, well as for me in delta state they don't read or even check if de meter had been tempered with by an unauthorized person all they do is just come drop de bill and go most ppl don't even have meter not to talk of reading it.   

I am in Nigeria and don't have any plans of leaving Nigeria for anything.

Now, it is your duty to ensure that your meter is read and if it means going to PHCN to follow up on that so be it.

It is the style of PHCN to give estimates as against actual bills because they make more money that way.

I have severally refused to pay my bills anytime they are based on estimates as I made it clear to PHCN that if they can send someone to drop the bill then they should be able to send someone to read the meter and after so many heated arguments and readiness to hurt anyone that disconnects my line they have understood my position well to the extent that at home my regular bill is about N300.00 - N400.00 and that is including the monthly meter maintenance charge.

Many Nigerians do not know their rights and majority of those that know their rights are not ready to enforce them that is why PHCN or pilicemen believe they have a right to intimidate you or make money from you.

My dear, it is your choice. Insist on the correct thing or continue to dash them money.

Tariff increament, thats ridiculous when in my area we are not even having the light.

Never

i'm liking this thread, at least the ppl here. . .

first things first, if i remember correctly the tariff isn't 6.40 sef, it's somewhere around 10.00-11.50, (there's a subsidy), then of course, the most important part,

@er'one saying it's too much
do you know that the 6.40/kwh you're paying now is far less than the cost of production per kwh? even the 8.50/kwh wont recover the costs. . .,

this is for the pro-privatisation group;
sey u see how people are complaining now? this is the reason why government hasn't privatised PHCN and it's successor companies since, if they come in, they wont be able to charge tariffs commensurate to their costs unlike the telecomms revoluton where the first (and probably only) thing on the telcos minds was recouping their investments.

that said

@afam
you actually called PHCN ppl daft? it's obvious we cant be friends. . .lol

that said, yes i think it's wrong for PHCN to estimate bills, if we nigerians were serious ppl, the NLC or some body would take the matter up seriously, then by the time PHCN sees the drop in it's revenue due to the widespread use of prepaid meters, they'll have one more reason to get their act right!
p.s.
why is it that even with the estimation sef, new users of the prepaid meters are usually shocked by the consumption rate? methinks it just goes to show that most consumers are not aware of how much electricity they consume, in addition to proving that in some cases the estimation works against PHCN

why is nigeria government not investing in solar. With all the sunshine we get we should be a global leader in solar energy use

Average cost of electricity in the world today is about N12.00 per kilowatt hour. At the rate of even N8.50/kWh, only those firms that are coming to generate from Nuclear Energy will be able to make profit.


Anybody complaining about estimated bill is just a helpless child. If you know how to read your meter, you'll know when to go to the closest PHCN Office to their estimate. Estimation is not primarily to charge more. It is to conserve labour. I know someone whose bill has been estimated for more than 3 years, but recently his finances improved and he consumes more than 10 times the electricity he used to, but even with the estimation, once in a while, the PHCN comes around to read the meter just to make sure their estimate is not off the mark.



No matter the tariff on electricity, it cannot be more expensive than the way we currently generate it. The noise, the dangers.

There's also no way the tariff will be expensive and the service is not available because it will be pay as you go.

@Solokay

I'm very sure in the USA where you live, it is not the Government that invests in Power Generation. Let's leave the Nigerian Government out of this. Their business should be regulation and the NERC is there.


Nigerian Government should stop investing in Power, Telecoms, Water, Education, Broadcasting, Transportation and Petroleum. Let them regulate and collect taxes only.

nex:


Anybody complaining about estimated bill is just a helpless child. If you know how to read your meter, you'll know when to go to the closest PHCN Office to  their estimate. Estimation is not primarily to charge more. It is to conserve labour. I know someone whose bill has been estimated for more than 3 years, but recently his finances improved and he consumes more than 10 times the electricity he used to, but even with the estimation, once in a while, the PHCN comes around to read the meter just to make sure their estimate is not off the mark.

Your logic is fundamentally flawed for the following reasons

1. After I insisted on actual reading my monthly bill was hovering between N300.00 and N450.00 per month for years.

2. It is almost impossible for PHCN to give a customer a monthly estimated bill of N300.00 or N450.00 and as such any estimation would amount to robbery.

3. If PHCN wants to conserve labour it should not be at the detriment of the paying customer who may consistently consume far less than what they are being billed for.

So, instead of opposing things for the sake of doing so I will advice you to respect facts especially when they are glaring.

Less than 2 weeks ago I asked PHCN what it would take to convert to a 3 phase meter and I was told that I needed to pay N55,000.00 for the meter and since the meters are not readily available they will be providing estimated bill until the meter is installed.

I asked them to give me an idea of the estimated bill and the oga there said about N3,500.00 per month. I told him that the less than N2,500.00 I recharged the last time lasted for 2 years 2 months and he was like it was not possible and I took time to lecture him about the many advantages of energy efficiency.

N3,500.00 x 26 months = N91,000.00 and yet for the same time period I spent under N2,500.00 even though it was for a single phase.

There is no justification for estimation considering the fact that it is the same distance and energy that those who bring the bills would cover by coming to read the meters.

@oyb
why not go solar then?

But some people dont have the energy or time to argue and threaten PHCN officials.Some people just believe that PHCN should do their jobs the way it should be rightly done.
I used to live directly across PHCN office in fadeyi(beside Orthopaedic Hospital)in Lagos.My closeness to the office made it easier and convenient for me to visit that office immediately their is any complain,high bills,etc
But later,i got seriously discouraged because those PHCN officials seem to have the same answer to every question.
They are completely redundant and sems only interested in collecting payment.

They are not interested in your complains but rather how much will they generate per month.

Afam:

Your logic is fundamentally flawed for the following reasons

1. After I insisted on actual reading my monthly bill was hovering between N300.00 and N450.00 per month for years.

2. It is almost impossible for PHCN to give a customer a monthly estimated bill of N300.00 or N450.00 and as such any estimation would amount to robbery.

3. If PHCN wants to conserve labour it should not be at the detriment of the paying customer who may consistently consume far less than what they are being billed for.

So, instead of opposing things for the sake of doing so I will advice you to respect facts especially when they are glaring.

Less than 2 weeks ago I asked PHCN what it would take to convert to a 3 phase meter and I was told that I needed to pay N55,000.00 for the meter and since the meters are not readily available they will be providing estimated bill until the meter is installed.

I asked them to give me an idea of the estimated bill and the oga there said about N3,500.00 per month. I told him that the less than N2,500.00 I recharged the last time lasted for 2 years 2 months and he was like it was not possible and I took time to lecture him about the many advantages of energy efficiency.

N3,500.00 x 26 months = N91,000.00 and yet for the same time period I spent under N2,500.00 even though it was for a single phase.

There is no justification for estimation considering the fact that it is the same distance and energy that those who bring the bills would cover by coming to read the meters.

@Afam
you should know you aren't just 'anybody'.

1.your situation is the exception(heck if i didn't know of you i'd say you were lying, i still find it hard to believe). correct me if i'm wrong, you aren't using a fridge or an air conditioner, infact all you use is prolly only illumination.

2.how many nigerians are aware of the term energy efficiency not to mention practising it sef? better still, how many PHCN officials know the term?(sad abi?)

3.to my knowledge, they simply cannot afford the costs associated with sucha venture, it's the same thing with the water bill, how easy do u think it is to walk up and down streets er'day? how much are they being paid sef? (is i said in a previous post, i am against estimated billing o!)

the fact is that the average nigerian is extremely wasteful when it comes to using electricity(i'm sure you agree with the foregoing) and i'm sure that's what nex had in mind. If we have to estimate, then it should be done properly, i.e. taking into cognizance the appliances the consumer has in his house, PHCN doesn't do this(frankly i think it's either because they're too lazy or it's the square pegs in round holes thingy).

the oga was merely conjecturing, based on past experience(which he prolly has a lot of), as i've stated before, you are an exception and if things were considered from a statistical viewpoint, then your case wouldn't matter, because it's a drop in a pond. I can only imagine what the lecture was like for him, i'm sure you've been told before sha, you have a way of making it seem like you're condescending when you argue(dont know if thats the right word) as in, at times i imagine you having a look of disdain on your face as you type.

you're right, it's wrong to compare a 3 phase bill with a single phase bill.(i'm ashamed to say i really have no idea what the diff is btw having a single phase or having 3 phases supply in your house)

the problem with having your meter read every month is the frequency of trips required, bringing the bills is only once a month, but having the meters read in addition to dropping bills, would require an additional trip, thus increasing the strain on the workers, which ideally should lead to an increase in pay.

however on my estate in abuja, our meters were read every month while we used prepaid meters, so i'm guessing the decision to read or not to read the meters lies in the hands of the business manager or CEO.

lastly, do u have any info on energy efficiency that'd be useful? that's what i want to specialize in


@ the solar advocates.
the cost of solar in developed countries can be twice as expensive as energy from conventional sources, now when i say this bear in mind that they are closer to the plants where the solar cells are manufactured, so to implement solar on an appreciable scale back here, we would have to add transportation costs to the equation.

We cant just afford solar energy right now, We cant even power our gas turbines.

@Afam


Facts are sacred and they always stand the test of time. Lies never last!


Mr. Afam, I really did not set out to oppose you and your "glaring" facts, I'm just saying that there are cases where the estimated bill is less than the actual consumption. However, now that you clearly want some opposition, I'll ask what the METER MAINTENANCE CHARGE for a 1 Phase meter is. Then what's the FIXED CHARGE for a 1 Phase meter.

Add the MMC + FC and then multiply that by your 26 months, then subtract it from N2,500. Whatever you get left, divide it by N6.50 and that will give your consumption of power in kWh. Please let us know what that figure is. it is most likely in the negative.


Well, since you say that your current billing has been hovering around N300 and N450, that's an average of N375 per month. Multiplied by 26 month, we'll have a bill of N9,700 over the past 2 years. So how really do you manage that N2,500 over two years for your 1 Phase pre-paid meter? Enlighten us please.


By the way, when I say that people complaining about estimated bills are just helpless children, I meant those who refuse to complain and straighten out their bills, not people like you and I who are ready to take up any errors with the PHCN head on.