Someone exclaimed, "I'm I still living in Nigeria?! Never have I, in terms power outage and restoration, had it this good." Since last week, Akwa Ibom has been enjoying a consistent 20 to 22hr power supply per day. It is indeed record breaking, and I want to know if it's the same in your area. We are hoping that before the year runs out, the rate of power outage would have decreased to, say, < 3hrs/week. So go on, let's know how it goes there.

Got better for about two straight weeks in Port Harcourt but now its very very bad. No power for one week now in Woji axis Phc. The period it got better, the diesel vendor threatened we would soon come knocking again and true to their words, we are back knocking even harder this time...!!! What is most annoying is that Gov. Amaechi's commissioner for Power is busy arguing Argentina vs Germany final match in a popular joint in Phc and blaming the FG after siphoning huge budgetary allocation to his Ministry.

That is different in my area oooo. They bring and take evry 2 to 3 min.

if we enjoy 1hour of electricity in a day we normally celebrate it in my area, ebenezery. Ibadan

Hmmmm, am in Kogi State right now, and PHCN is literally molesting us with enough power supply..




I have even lost count.







#Freshair.

Asaba is d worst of all. I don't really get. Nigeria has all the resources at her disposal to achieve power stability but what is stopping?

Very very Pathetic in kosofe, lagos. The only thing dey do best 'is to cut ligth wires'

Will get better..

In my area, once in a week... Very poor.

About 12hrs per day. No single day without power and we know the timetable.

Fuuucccck it! here its 10-30mins uninterruptible low voltage power supply. Maybe na T. A. Orji cause am

nnewi. Since last year, the last time i saw light was in octomber 2013

Its worse than it used to be, now electricity is a luxury

I cudnt really see the difference between the light in my area and A TORCH LIGHT..
attimes, dem go dey bring am on and off like Christmas light..
PHCN, Holding the Nigerian Power since 1759..

In asaba now its 2hours on 2- days off. Its been terrible. Never experienced this kinda power wahala in my entire life, and its been since april this year. Heard the 132kv breaker is bad at obosi, but can't they fix it?**********************************************BY
KENNEDY
BIENOSE: NOTHING underscores the ineptitude and inefficiency of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria(PHCN) than the recent disclosure of the
Minister for Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, to the
effect that he spends, on the average,
N240,000 monthly to fuel his generator.
The Minister was stating the obvious when he
said that such a development was an eloquent
testimony of the gross inefficiency of the PHCN
and, therefore, the urgent need for its overhaul
and privatization.
Similarly, the Chief Medical Director of Lagos
University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Prof. Akin
Oshibogun, told the Senate Committee on
Health which was on a fact-finding mission to
the Idi-Araba, Lagos-based hospital that 5,000
litres of diesel (costing, in net, about N800,000)
was what the institution expends daily to fuel
the 10 generator sets that it acquired as
alternative sources to PHCN.
Despite the serial metamorphoses that the
power company – from Electricity Corporation of
Nigeria (ECN) to its current nomenclature of
Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) – the
company apparently has not shed the toga of
inefficiency. In fact, many believe that it has
been going downhill with every transmutation
and change of name. It is not for nothing that
the organization has earned several
sobriquents, each derogatory in interpretation,
from Nigerians. When it was National Electric
Power Authority (NEPA), Nigerians prefer to
interprete the acronym NEPA as “Never Expect
Power Always”. And even the new name: Power
Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) has been
translated to mean: “Power Hoarding Company
of Nigeria”. But is the power regulating
company aware of its perceived inefficiency?
It is doubtful. The outrageous bills and, worst
still, the method employed at arriving at such
bills only point to the fact that PHCN is either
living in self-delusion or it has an exaggerated
view of its own efficiency. Expectedly,
consumers are pained that they are made to
pay for services they do not enjoy, no thanks to
the irrational bills that they are served on a
monthly basis. Sometimes, these bills are even
served at the beginning (first or second week)
of the month which raises a pertinent
question: How does PHCN determine the bills
for services that it is yet to render to
consumers?
Enter the estimated billing system. Rather than
depend on meter readings to determine
consumers, monthly bill, PHCN has apparently
devised what is known as estimated billing
where officials sit in the comfort of the offices
and determine bills for consumers. The only
‘good’ thing this warped method of ascertaining
bills does is that it enable officials determine
bills even when the month is just beginning.
From the perspective of consumers, estimated
billing is unjustifiably fraudulent as it is usually
out of sync with reality; it neither reflects the
services rendered nor corroborate the actual
meter reading.
Somehow, officials of PHCN seem to be more at
home with this system of billing and prepared
to perpetuate it as it brings more money to the
coffers of the organization at the detriment of
consumers.
It is not surprising that a recent report accused
PHCN of ripping Nigerians off to a tune of N3.41
trillion. According to the report, PHCN rakes in
about N1.04 trillion annually from households
in Nigeria; N2.074 trillion from Micro Small and
Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs); N2.86
billion from the 22 federal airports across the
country and N3.4 billion from banks and other
large scale enterprises. PHCN’s N3.41 trillion
annual earnings from electricity bills is said to
be 111 per cent higher than the N1.62 trillion
budgeted for capital expenditure in 2013.
Curiously, the prepaid meter which was
introduced as an elixir to the outrageous and
lopsided billing system of the PHCN are hardly
available for consumers. Many attribute this to
the deliberate attempt by PHCH officials to
hoard the products. The recent discovery of
about 2,000 units of the meters, laying fallow in
a PHCN depot in Ikorodu, Lagos State by the
Minister of State for Power, who was on an
unscheduled visit to the district, goes a long
way to corroborate the allegation.
Respondents who spoke with our
correspondents in this edition of Sunday Digest
all decried the activities of PHCN, particularly
the poor services and estimated billings, and
called for a speedy conclusion of the on-going
process to privatise the company and reform
the power sector.
Mr Nduka Okolo said he seldom depend on
PHCN for power supply since “it has proved its
unreliability beyond any reasonable doubt”. He
opined that “PHCN will never give you light
when you need it. So, I have resorted to using
generator most of the time.”
And does he pay electricity bills since he
seldom depend on public supply for power?
“That is the annoying aspect. Even though I
hardly use NEPA, they (officials) are usually
very prompt in serving me bills which, more
often than not, are on the high side”, the
banker responded.
For Mr Kingsley Adodo who lives in Direct
Labour Road in Asaba, never in the history of
PHCN has its services been poor than what is
going on now. “As I speak with you, my area
has been in darkness for weeks. And rather
than think of restoring power supply to the
area, all the officials do is to serve you crazy
bills which only them and God know how they
(bills) are determined”, he said.
A clergyman, Pastor Lord Agidi, who lives on
Biosa Amantu, Off DLA Road, Asaba could not
fathom why he has to pay more when he is
disconnected than when he enjoys power
supply. “My average bill per month is about
N2,000. But on the few occasions I have been
disconnected, my bill skyrocketed to about
N7,000 per month. What is the rationale in
that? Are you saying I should pay more when I
did not enjoy your services at all?”, he asked
rhetorically.
Mrs Nkem Maduemezie, a landlady in Bonsaac
area of Asaba frowned at the inconsistency of
PHCN in power supply and billing. “Sometimes
dey go give you light, small time, you no go see
light. And l na so dey go give you N2,000 bill
this month, next month e go jump to N5,000
even though dey no give you light pass before”,
she observed in pidgin English.
For Mr Patrick Igbigbije, the annoying thing is
that whereas PHCN officials are quick to come
and disconnect you when you default, they are
very reluctant to come and reconnect you even
after paying reconnection fee and attend to
other complaints. “Each time the transformer in
my area goes bad, except we mobilize ourselves
to fix it, it will remain like that for aeon. And
same is applicable to other complaints; they
will never respond to them. But just default in
paying your bill, you will see them swarming
around you like bees”, he noted.
Reacting to the complaints, the Public Relation
Officer of PHCN, Asaba District, Mrs Esther
Okolie, said epileptic power supply and
perceived poor services of the organization was
not an exclusive preserve of Asaba and environs
as it is “a national problem”. She, however,
noted that “the capital city has peculiar
challenges”.
According to her, Asaba and environs have
depended on Obosi Power Station for power
supply for the past 27 years due to absence of a
step-down power station within the area.
Unfortunately, the total power flow from Obosi
is a meager 22 megawats as against the 105
megawatts required to serve Asaba and its
environs.
Mrs Okolie was, however, optimistic that
unstable power would soon be a thing of the
past as “there is hope in sight”. She assured
that the 132KVA step-down power project
located on Asaba/Ughelli Expressway (by
Ibusa), calculated at checking the power
shortfall in the state capital and environs, would
be completed before the end of the year. “And
when that is done, this issue would be a thing
of the past”, she assured, urging Deltans to be
patient.
Given the PRO’s assurance, couple with the
recent release of N3.7 billion by the Federal
Government to address power challenges and
other sundry reforms going on in the power
sector, Nigerians cannot but hope that someday
power, like telecommunications, would become
stable and efficient in the country. *******************SOURCE: thepointernewsonline.com/?p=21531

If i see a Governor/President who'd come out with a one point agenda, promising to stablilize power.. I'd be obliged to vote him in..

In Benin, staying @ d Ugbowo axis of town, is d worse nightmare I guess.. Becos along wt some other zones they've decided 2 ''share''... On a 2hrs on, 4 hours off basis. And they aren't even consistent with it..

Its moderate.....Hit "LIKE" if ur light supply is moderate

dem dey try at night hours and early mornings but its nothing compared to the 22hrs a day we used to enjoy before oct1 2013...it has been worse tho but better now

Pathetic

IfyAngela: Its worse than it used to be, now electricity is a luxury

Morning dear

Blockus: Over 3 months and I have only slept with my generator running for like 3 times.

The light in Oniru has been amazingly good to say the least.

if I were u I wouldn't state my location unless u nor like wetin u dey enjoy nw

Snoggy: It got better this week. 16-20hrs a day.

I hope it improves.

Kogi seems to be doing well in the area of electricity these days.

Where IN KOGI

CharlesPhc: Got better for about two straight weeks in Port Harcourt but now its very very bad. No power for one straight week now in Woji axis Phc. The period it got better, the diesel vendor threatened we would soon come knocking again and true to their words, we are back knocking even harder this time...!!! What is most annoying is that Gov. Amaechi's commissioner for Power is busy arguing Argentina vs Germany final match in a popular joint in Phc.

Funnny oooooooo......wetin man love dey plenty for him talk says a proverb.....


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First and foremost, I would advise the OP to stop using the development strides in Akwa Ibom as a standard of measuring development in other states. Akwa Ibom seems to gradually leaving Nigerian behind in terms of infracstructural development.... While I was at Akwa Ibom, I resided along the Itu-Calabar highway axis... and power supply came from the Itu axis... Back then we had a 24-7 constant power supply... And last I visited.. The diffrence was'nt much. Here in Abj... The two places I stay I know of aint doing badly either... Where I reside around central area.. The power supply nearly exceeds 24 hours a day... (lol)... Very very very very very steady. While places like lugbe, some parts of maitama, gwagwalada, etc. are not on the complaining side. In summary, there seems to be a wide margin between those enjoying constant power and those who are not. It seems to be a two way thing... Its either you are enjoying steady power supply or not having the power at all.

1am - 4am sometimes, but how the fork am I suppose to do anything with it when I'm sleeping.

They are loadshelding ours here three hours three times a day, which make it 9hours light everyday.