₦airaland Forum

To make this clearer:

When you purchase your units from PHCN, you are charged both a fixed Charge, and VAT at the point of purchase.

1. Fixed charge is N500 per month (they charge this every month whether or not you use the meter).
2. VAT of 5 percent of your balance after removing the fixed charge.

So if you recharge in January 2013 and it finishes in May, when you recharge in May, you will be charged Fixed charges for February, March, April, and May = N2,000 + VAT of the remainder of the amount you are paying.

E.g. You go to recharge in May with N5,000, you will be charged N2,000 for the previous months and 5% of the remaining N3,000 = N150.
So you will get N2,850 worth of units. If each unit costs N13.03, then you get 218.72 units.

Also, note that when you buy a recharge card they give you value in form of units and each unit costs N13.03 for Eko Distribution Company (R2) customers, and N12.15 for Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company Plc customers.

After buying a recharge card using it for one month (let's say you used 120 units in the old postpaid meter). Your consumption should be in the same range as the old meter about 120 units (if the readings were accurate).

If you're using a prepaid meter:
Say your consumption is 120 units (KWh)
Your bill should be:
N1,563.60 (120KWh * N13.03) + N500(fixed charge) = N2,063.60
That's it.

If you were using the old postpaid meter you would pay a meter maintenance fee of about N154 instead of the fixed charge of N500.

Also look at this story from last year: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/06/new-electricity-tariff-takes-off-today/

Middle income consumers would be expected to pay between N11 and N12/Kwh. The highest rate would be paid by consumers living in high brow areas of the country such as Maitama, Asokoro in Abuja, Ikoyi and Banana Island in Lagos. Consumers in these areas grouped as R3 and R4 would pay as much as N23.71/kwh with fixed meter charges of N21,256.30 and N118,830.56 respectively.

All the fraud and corruption that goes on in Nigeria somehow passes through the banks. But all this public money seems too juicy for anyone to let go off, and there will be no limit to the heights our banks will go without proper scrutiny and regulations.

Recently, I had my scariest experience with a certain bank, name synonymous with the word "Admission" Bank.

Within two months of opening a savings account with this bank I was charged almost N1,500 without making a single transaction.

I was sure to enquire when opening the account when I asked of any "hidden" or extra charges on savings accounts. Promptly, I was told there was none.

With less than two months after opening the account and making an initial deposit, my account balance is short by almost N1,500.
I was in the banking hall when a market woman who had been convinced to open an account came complaining that her money has disappeared and she could not meet up to some previously planned commitment.

Now, I am being told that the bank charges N100 monthly account management fee. Also, starting this year they will be charging their account maintenance fee annually as N1,000 for managing each savings account. This was not communicated to the customers using any customer by any means available. Not to mention the customer service staff who secretly added SMS alerts to my account opening form without my knowledge.

This bank silently debited all savings account by N1,000 in February even after they had taken the N100 monthly charge for the same month.

Now, tell me why anyone would want to entrust these people with their income and savings?

Is there something CBN can do about this?
Which way forward Nigeria?

The analysis below is for R2 customers (residential rate, which is where most of us belong).

For Prepaid meters there is a fixed monthly charge of about N500 (wondering what this is for since people paid for the meters in full).
For the old postpaid meters they are charged about N46.
There is also a meter maintenance fee that varies. Postpaid meters are charged about N154 for Meter maintenance.

If you calculate the sum watts of each electrical equipment in your home.
E.g
three(3) 100 watt bulb = . 300 watts
one(1) LCD TV = .......... 200 watts
one(1) electric iron = .. 1000 watts
------------------------------------
Total:................... 1500 watts = 1.5 Kilowatts (1.5KW)
(Of course you wouldn't be using an electric iron for more than a total of 15 hours in a month and power supply is not usually available).

Now, your usage is measured in KWh (kilowatts hour). 1KWh is when you use a total of 1KW for 1 hour.

With the above combination of 3 bulb, 1 LCD, and 1 iron, which gives 1.5KW you will be using 1.5KWH every hour.

And, if you ran only these three for 24 hours daily and 30 days a month, you would have spent 720 hours of 1.5KW
This would amount to 1080 KWh (1.5KW x 720 hours).
Now PHCN charges N13.03 per KWh (Eko distribution Zone) for residential rate (R2) customers. Customers under Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company Plc are charged N12.15 per KWh.

Your bill with the above configuration should be:

N14,072.40 (1080KWh * N13.03) + N500(fixed charge)

Total bill all things being equal should be: N14,572.40

Is this N1,500 for the piece of information here --> http://doctorfox./2013/02/05/personalized-self-uploaded-mtn-caller-tunez-setting-it-up/ ?
If you have some better information, then that's good, otherwise I'll pass this off - no deal.

Most of the work on this has been done here www.iwatchlive.org and yourbudgit.com
Probably we can join hands on these.

I remember once I lodged a complaint to PHCN about their refusing to read my meter. The staff on duty looked at my self taken readings and told me I wasn't consuming much based on my meter reading therefore my meter must be faulty.

Then he pulled me aside and told me that to be honest there was no better option than for me to get a prepaid meter. There was almost no chance they would read my meter afterwards because my consumption was very low. I mean the only items I used when I was home were my laptop and radio. Plus for weeks we could go without power supply due to one transformer problem or the other.

I was told to write an application and make a bank draft of N25,000 plus N5,000 for installation of the prepaid meter.

Not very cool, I heard from a good number of people had done same that they were still awaiting their prepaid meters for over a year.

You can find a number of these projects on www.iwatchlive.org
Hope that helps.

What would have been more tenable was for the government to release the "real" copy of the proposed PIB to the media houses to publish it.

That way we wont be having a problem with real vs fake.
When the government makes such statements it creates a valid point of argument about the governments commitment to openness and transparency in its dealings.

And now a new bill is about to be slammed on the people without any chance of the people knowing.

It's quite unfortunate that many responsibilities are neglected and public funds are being misappropriated.
Bribery and indiscipline is now a normal thing.
I guess it's time for all well meaning Nigerians to demand accountability from the government.
If you have a strong will to see things change in Nigeria, I would suggest joining Nigerians on www.iwatchlive.org

We need to put our efforts together and have a united front against corruption and bad governance.
Let's try something different this time and see how we fare in transforming Nigeria one citizen at a time.

Corruption in Nigeria knows neither tongue, tribe, nor race, it is an undeniable and immutable ill that is aggravated by a judiciary that has drunk and bathed itself in the floods that overflow from the vintage of corruption.

Away from the above digression and back to the airports. How much was allocated for the renovation on the airport?
Would be tracking all these developments including who is responsible for them, so we can bring them to book.
Send feedbacks here www.iwatchlive.org, emails to info[at]iwatchlive.org

This is good news.
I am working on something towards making the government accountable using online platforms to measure and track government performance.
I don't know if anyone here has heard about this platform here www.iwatchlive.org

It's a growing platform and still getting tweaked everyday.
We would elicit the help of Nigerians in every state to post projects going on around them and share the pictures for us to have a track record of who and what is working in our country.

This particular project, the Benin Shagamu Ore road with its details have been posted here www.iwatchlive.org/activities/view/8

Please feel free to make comments, suggestions, and feedbacks as you see fit.

Many thanks.
1Naija!

Well, this post is very accurate.
The Government has implemented the new price of 97 Naira.
What I want to know is how has the government implemented deregulation in the downstream sector now.
Wat metrics were used in arriving at tis price?
If this was the correct price from removal of subsidy why did the government attempt to impose untold suffering on the people with the more than 100% price increase?

More on the government's activities will be posted on www.iwatchlive.org

Seems like this site does not exist anymore.
What happened?

Just a thought here.
Would any of us here like to contribute to an online platform to monitor and rate the performance of the government?
If you would, please submit entries of those projects, programmes and schemes that the Government has started in your area to www.iwatchlive.org.

We want to have a concrete record of the performance of the government over time so we can hold the government accountable.
Thank you all.

Our generation will not be sidonlook, at least we will try something!
And if this one doesn't work, we will continue to find other ways.

You can see this project on www.iwatchlive.org and make your comments effective.

Let's hold the government accountable.

We are all watching. It is high time we got involved in governance somehow even it is by starting this way peacefully and well-focused.

You don't need to be in the office to change this country. Focus your anger into creative channels and we will see the change we desire in this country!

I agree with Pak on these things.
The truth is that the programmers who you would like to employ may not be reading online job boards or newspapers for jobs.
Any good PHP developer worth his/her salt could never be idle as long as there is an endless sea of jobs on the internet (freelance and full time) to keep you occupied.

You would need to get across to those who are probably less busy and desire greater sense of accomplishment and experience.

If you are PHP developer and you don't do any projects no matter how small, you may not be employable yet (sorry if that sounds harsh but it's the bitter truth).

Please ensure that you have a well designed CV before applying for positions like these or you won't receive any response.
This position was posted well over two weeks ago.

Also, if you are to get a chance at being interviewed you need to apply early enough to show that you are at least a serious minded candidate.

Use reliable and verifiable referees.
Don't put a referee who would deny knowing you if ever your employer decides to call him/her!

Can we get a list of "must include" items for every CV?

I believe all is well.
Don’t just sit down and wait for a call to come from them. Get other things going and don't limit yourself to just one chance!
There are many opportunities waiting for the right hand to fill.
Equip yourself to perform better in interviews if you missed one recently.

Statistics published state that only about 10% of the world population are competent.

Do your best to increase your competence in the job you are seeking and it will come your way sooner than you know it.

Philip Consulting is highly reputable and they are recruiting for one or more banks this time.
Of course no bank in Nigeria living or dead will hire entry level staff for the post of deputy manager.
You need experience and training to fill that position.

After the test most likely you will be notified about the company only if you are successful. So the first thing you should be certain of is your preparedness for the test.
Once you are contacted about your success in the interview, you must begin work on your interview skills, knowledge, and composure.

Wish you all the very best.

The only case where I have seen a recruitment agency asking for money and they did get jobs for the applicants.

In that scenario they never asked for any registration fee, only thing they did was get the applicant to agree to a contract that entitles them to some percentage of the applicant's salary for the first 3 months or there about.

If you are told to pay for registration of any sort, please open your eyes very well!

I think eLance would be a more appropriate place to post your project.
Nigeria has some good hands you can use, only problem is that you'll have a hard time finding them in a place like this.

In addition to what inas911 has suggested, I can tell you that it is lucrative only if you have a good network of clients that send messages frequently.
You should do your marketing properly.
That said, while you are keeping yourself busy with this, you should also have something else going on for your job search.

It is best to that you learn a new skill while you are out of job or have the free time. It not only helps you to stay focused, it also makes you more employable.
In such times you may employ the services of a job search portal like www.ejobmonster.com which will send you SMS alerts for jobs based on your preferences whenever they become available.

That way you can put your time to more productive use without scouring through multiple job sites for current vacancies.

Hmmm,

I think their primary aim is to get people to pay money to write interviews or the promise a big job in oil companies etc.
They may also give you a call out of nowhere proposing some big money making business to you hoping you will be interested since you seem to be in search of a job.
My advise - do not be desperate. Every good thing will come to you in due time.
Never believe anything if it sounds too good to be true.

Lol, most of us look for jobs for wrong reasons (just for the free mac?).

We need to know that we have the right reason and attitude for the job, not only the paycheck but also the ways we believe we can add to the company's growth by the skills we have to offer.

Weldone Mambe.
You may have to work on the UI a bit though.

Headworld's proposal looks good.

In this, I advise every youth who is passionate about solving a problem in this country to think of ways to use technology to solve problems that can be tackled with technology and join the various groups online that will help in bringing their dreams to reality.

Interesting site you got here.