Jaqenhghar:


By your reasoning businessmen are allowed to take people's money without giving them services because they want to expand.
How long will people keep paying them before they get their shít together?
This is not socialism. Its common sense. You go to MacDonald to buy a burger. They collect your money and refuse to give you the burger then ask you to pay again to get your burger ..and keep paying saying they will use the money to prepare your burger. ..... and you shouldnt protest. Does that make sense to you?

Leave that guy he is trying to be smart by half.

When you start or buy a business you invest money in critical aspects of the company so that you can at least give a good level of satisfactory services, this would make the people pay and then you expand.

These guys bought the business, govt gave them money to support them, they took loans from banks that should have been used for critical aspects of the business, ate the money and now want people to pay so that they can use the money to expand.

To make matters worse a neglected critical aspect of the business is still in the hands of the govt and they want people to pay for services not rendered.

codedguy1:


What difference has there been since the name change?

My point is we are still experiencing the same epilepsy c supply of electricity regardless of the nomemcleture whether govt owned or private coy.

Power supply is bad because

1.Many Nigerians don't pay for power. (In some areas, according to a report in the Daily Trust newspaper, as low as 48% of residents in some cities pay. Here in the FCT, in 2015, 70% of those paying for power in the territory were in Abuja city proper, outside the city most people do not pay).

And government agencies don't pay for power either. Many people living in the rural areas too don't pay.

2.The law establishing the power companies in 2013//14 made government the person setting the price for power (Imagine if you are a businessman selling shoes at N3000 a pair. Government comes in and tells you to sell at N1000 a pair, and pays you N500 as compeansation. Where is your profit then?)...which meant that power companies cannot charge their own prices, making it difficult for them to make a profit...which makes it difficult for them to pay for improvements, pay supplers and pay Gencos..the generating companies.

3.GENCOS too have their own wahala....most gas suppliers want to be paid in dollars not in naira.

4.Because of 1-3 above, DISCOS and GENCOS cannot get loans from banks and financial agencies. Because when 1) most of your clients are not paying and 2) when you are the one not setting your prices....who is going to lend you the cash. (GSM companies don't have that problem because 1) they can set their prices 2) you cannot use a phone without paying money...so they have no issue meeting any terms of the loans).

Thus, no money to pay for improving power supply, and thus no cash either.

And back when the government was controlling power...things were good until 1978...onwards when government started expanding power supply to every nook and crany. And then they kept prices low. And back then people and government agencies were not paying up too....

You cannot give what you don't have.

codedguy1:


Leave that guy he is trying to be smart by half.

When you start or buy a business you invest money in critical aspects of the company so that you can at least give a good level of satisfactory services, this would make the people pay and then you expand.

These guys bought the business, govt gave them money to support them, they took loans from banks that should have been used for critical aspects of the business, ate the money and now want people to pay so that they can use the money to expand.

To make matters worse a neglected critical aspect of the business is still in the hands of the govt and they want people to pay for services not rendered.

And when you start a business, you expect people to pay for services. The fact is, many Nigerians are not paying for their services, and this has a knock on effect on an important part of business...recovering costs, and making enough profit to make more improvements.

That's how the GSM companies roll. A large amount of the improvemnts they have made over the years comes in part from our pockets. Because we all pay for their services...they have the money not only to make improvements, but to take loans, and make more improvements, which we keep paying for.

DISCOS and GENCOS did invest money in the sector. And Government paid counterpart funding. Where the problem arises is that 1) people not paying their bills, and that includes people on meters 2) Government sets their price, which is below production price, which makes it difficult for them to make profits and recoup invenstment...and by extension prevents foreign investment in the sector...because no one is going to invest his money in the sector without returns.

By the way, them DISCOS and GENCOS did not get money from the banks because of the reasons I gave above. No bank was willing to lend to DISCOS and gencos because...many people are not paying their power bills, so the money to pay back the loans won't be avialable (By contrast, because everyone pays for MTN,9mobile, AIRTEL AND GLO services, big banks, local and international, are willing to lend them cash, because they know long term they would see their money back.)

We are getting what we paid for powerwise, just as we are getting what we paid for GSM wise.

P.S Here is this whitepaper by PriceWaterhouseCoopers on the power issue in Nigeria. A critical point made here

Essentially, many of the DISCOs have been unable to collect a significant proportion of the total billings to customers as total revenue
collected by all the DISCOs for energy distributed still significantly lags the total billings. Collection efficiency improved by about 10% from
55.3% in Q3’2017 to 65.6% by Q3’2018. This implies that about N3.4 out of every N10 billed to customers are not paid to DISCOs as at
when due.

The scary point about the paper is that DISCOS and GENCOS have been running at a loss since 2013. Because...people ain't paying enough...and not just the people, the government.

That's serves them right,.........
What have we gained from NEPA since 1971

kikero:


Power supply is bad because

1.Many Nigerians don't pay for power. (In some areas, according to a report in the Daily Trust newspaper, as low as 48% of residents in some cities pay. Here in the FCT, in 2015, 70% of those paying for power in the territory were in Abuja city proper, outside the city most people do not pay).

And government agencies don't pay for power either. Many people living in the rural areas too don't pay.

2.The law establishing the power companies in 2013//14 made government the person setting the price for power (Imagine if you are a businessman selling shoes at N3000 a pair. Government comes in and tells you to sell at N1000 a pair, and pays you N500 as compeansation. Where is your profit then?)...which meant that power companies cannot charge their own prices, making it difficult for them to make a profit...which makes it difficult for them to pay for improvements, pay supplers and pay Gencos..the generating companies.

3.GENCOS too have their own wahala....most gas suppliers want to be paid in dollars not in naira.

4.Because of 1-3 above, DISCOS and GENCOS cannot get loans from banks and financial agencies. Because when 1) most of your clients are not paying and 2) when you are the one not setting your prices....who is going to lend you the cash. (GSM companies don't have that problem because 1) they can set their prices 2) you cannot use a phone without paying money...so they have no issue meeting any terms of the loans).

Thus, no money to pay for improving power supply, and thus no cash either.

And back when the government was controlling power...things were good until 1978...onwards when government started expanding power supply to every nook and crany. And then they kept prices low. And back then people and government agencies were not paying up too....

You cannot give what you don't have.

Which comes first, the chicken or the egg.

Power supply is bad because the govt has failed in doing the right thing. People not paying their bills is not the major cause of bad supply.

Now what is that right thing the govt should do. I will answer this question in the context we find ourselves now because honestly states should be allowed yo generate, transmit and distribute power.

But we are where we are.

Gas supply, transmission and distribution are the major cause of epileptic power. I cannot totally blame the discos but I will also not totally blame consumers but because the discos cannot harass the govt and their agencies they go after the hapless consumers.

The discos have been given money by the govt and they have taken loans, what did they do with the money, where did they channel it to.

The discos should pump money to make sure they have the capacity to absorb what is generated, transmission should be removed from govt hands and distribution should also be heavily invested in by the discos.

Once that is done then we know that electricity can be stable, transformers and cables changed so that when supply is stable and everyone metered with prepaid, Phcn, discos or NEPA will not need to ho about chasing people yo pay or cutting electricity.

Let the discos find money to fix all these and see if money will not flow in because of suffient prepaid meters with adequate supply of light.

Ask yourself why are they stalling in finding a way to make prepaid affordable, its because if everyone has prepaid and they don't supply light 24/7 they are the ones that would lose so they ho about giving people very outrageous estimated bill just to stay in business thereby cheating the consumers.

PEOPLE CAN BE FOOLISH, DEM DEY BEAT UR COLLEAGUE U STILL DEY CLIMB LADA

codedguy1:


Which comes first, the chicken or the egg.

Power supply is bad because the govt has failed in doing the right thing. People not paying their bills is not the major cause of bad supply.

Now what is that right thing the govt should do. I will answer this question in the context we find ourselves now because honestly states should be allowed yo generate, transmit and distribute power.

But we are where we are.

Gas supply, transmission and distribution are the major cause of epileptic power. I cannot totally blame the discos but I will also not totally blame consumers but because the discos cannot harass the govt and their agencies they go after the hapless consumers.

The discos have been given money by the govt and they have taken loans, what did they do with the money, where did they channel it to.

The discos should pump money to make sure they have the capacity to absorb what is generated, transmission should be removed from govt hands and distribution should also be heavily invested in by the discos.

Once that is done then we know that electricity can be stable, transformers and cables changed so that when supply is stable and everyone metered with prepaid, Phcn, discos or NEPA will not need to ho about chasing people yo pay or cutting electricity.

Let the discos find money to fix all these and see if money will not flow in because of suffient prepaid meters with adequate supply of light.

Ask yourself why are they stalling in finding a way to make prepaid affordable, its because if everyone has prepaid and they don't supply light 24/7 they are the ones that would lose so they ho about giving people very outrageous estimated bill just to stay in business thereby cheating the consumers.

See my response to one of your other comments upthread for more insights...but to respond to your point in brief...the only way Discos can find money is by making sure every customer pays for the power they do recieve.

That way, there would be money to make bad services worse.

Take the GSM companies. When they first came, we were paying N10000 for sim card, more for complete package. (Back then, guys bought a GSM phone and then started business with the phone to recoup their investment, haha. I knew two people who did that).

And the service back then was awful. Missed calls, problems with calls between networks (for a while, one could not call a Econet number with an MTN number, that was the begining of Nigerians having two phone lines).

Yet we paid. And the GSM companies took our money and used it to improve services.

As for DISCOS....most people don't pay. Prepaid meters...which everyone screams is the solution...people bypass them well well, and enjoy free power for life. Government agencies don't pay and so on.

And you expect DIScos to find money when their customers is not paying. And by extension they can't take loans from banks and other lending agencies because the banks know their customers are not paying, and they know that if they loan money to them, that's the last they would see of it.And at the end of the day, no money to improve serivces.

Like I said, you cannot pay N200 for something costing N200000 naira.

all hands on deck everybody

kikero:


And when you start a business, you expect people to pay for services. The fact is, many Nigerians are not paying for their services, and this has a knock on effect on an important part of business...recovering costs, and making enough profit to make more improvements.

That's how the GSM companies roll. A large

I will answer this first part of your write up.

When you start a business or buy one off someone, you are at least expected to make sure that the essentials are made available before you expect people who pay to want to continue to pay. Again let's understand that power is an essential commodity that is critical to people unlike the gsm you talk about.

If you have not made the power stable how do you expect regular prompt payment. This again can be solved by supplying prepaid meters.

The discos is tell us we are billed what we actually use. You give someone light for just 12days in a month, bill him for that 12day (for those using prepaid) and expect you will generate money. Meanwhile the guy who has no prepaid meter is billed 3times what he should pay because you give him estimated bill and in his mind he k ows he didn't enjoy light for most of the days in the month and you think you are doing business.

kikero:


And why is the service horrible...because the power sector has been straved of money for a long time. Corruption makes the matter worse.

Add the fact that in the 1980's and 90's, many stantes expanded power supply to many parts of the country without a thought about how it should be paid for.

Plus, many Nigerians don't pay their bills. I should add many government agencies and private agencies do not pay their bills either. That was true under the days of NEPA, then PHCN and now privatisation.

See, I am typing this from my working place. In 2003...I would have to go to an internet cafe, pay N200 for two hours to type this stuff I am typing. And the reason why I can type this is that GSM companies were allowed to set their prices, and we had to pay their prices (and it was a lot of money, I tell ya.)....and all the benefits we have from GSM...home interent, ability to make all sorts of phone calls...including international calls (when I was very young...if you wanted to call abroad, you had to go to the nearest NITEL exchange and wait in a queue)...are as a result of people paying the bills to the GSM companies...high or not.

If you want service to improve, pay your power bills. I paid estimated bills for a while myself, and yes, it pained my wallet atimes. I still pay power bills. But because most Nigerians don't pay, the pressure falls on those of us who do pay. And most who don;t pay claim poor service. Where do they expect the DISCOS to get the money to make things better?? From the Great Magic Tree in the Sahara?

If you were a businessman and people did not pay for your goods and services because 'they think you are cheating them' when you need to make a profit to pay workers and expand your business...how do you expect your business to thrive? How do you expect DISCOS to make improvements when you are not paying them to do so on the excuse of 'bad service'? Why didn't you talk when government asked people to say if they were opposed to privatisation?

You must be working with one of the EDCs?

You are actively making excuses for their inability to provide excellent power deliveries.

When they rush to buy those facilities didn't they do their project analysis of the environment they are investing in, and provide for all the exigencies in the contracts?

But they rush to buy thinking these are easy milk cows they can continue to exploit till eternity.

Are they saying they have all been making losses all these days, and they are still in the business?

Let them improve on what they met on ground, and give us the world standard service that we deserve.

kikero:


Well, considering that many Nigerians and their government agencies etc don't pay their bills, how do you expect the power companies to make improvements to power.(And consider that this problem has been there right from the days of NEPA).

Plus the laws governing DISCOS and GEncos put the price setting in the hands of government.

At least Mc Donalds has the power to set its own prices, and does not suffer the problem of up to 50% of its clientelle not paying.So why won't they give you what you asked for??

Meanwhile in Nigeria, payment compliance for some DISCOS is less than 50% in some areas. Prepaid meters get bypassed where installed...so they aren't really a solution.

You are expecting DISCOS and GENCOS to supply power for free. That's not how it works. You won't expect to work for only half your salary, would you? Under those circumstances you won't give your best.

You missed my point. As a customer I am not responsible for the way you run your business. I want services, you want my money. I am paying you to deliver. If you cant give me what I want dont collect my money. dont open shop. Simple

kikero:


See my response to one of your other comments upthread for more insights...but to respond to your point in brief...the only way Discos can find money is by making sure every customer pays for the power they do recieve.

That way, there would be money to make bad services worse.

Take the GSM companies. When they first came, we were paying N10000 for sim card, more for complete package. (Back then, guys bought a GSM phone and then started business with the phone to recoup their investment, haha. I knew two people who did that).

And the service back then was awful. Missed calls, problems with calls between networks (for a while, one could not call a Econet number with an MTN number, that was the begining of Nigerians having two phone lines).

Yet we paid. And the GSM companies took our money and used it to improve services.

As for DISCOS....most people don't pay. Prepaid meters...which everyone screams is the solution...people bypass them well well, and enjoy free power for life. Government agencies don't pay and so on.

And you expect DIScos to find money when their customers is not paying. And by extension they can't take loans from banks and other lending agencies because the banks know their customers are not paying, and they know that if they loan money to them, that's the last they would see of it.And at the end of the day, no money to improve serivces.

Like I said, you cannot pay N200 for something costing N200000 naira.

Please stop comparing electricity with the gsm coys it doesn't make sense at all.

The only way is for them to make sure they can supply light 24/7, make sure everyone has prepaid.

That they want to use the money people pay to expand as things are is folly.

codedguy1:


I will answer this first part of your write up.

When you start a business or buy one off someone, you are at least expected to make sure that the essentials are made available before you expect people who pay to want to continue to pay. Again let's understand that power is an essential commodity that is critical to people unlike the gsm you talk about.

If you have not made the power stable how do you expect regular prompt payment. This again can be solved by supplying prepaid meters.

The discos is tell us we are billed what we actually use. You give someone light for just 12days in a month, bill him for that 12day (for those using prepaid) and expect you will generate money. Meanwhile the guy who has no prepaid meter is billed 3times what he should pay because you give him estimated bill and in his mind he k ows he didn't enjoy light for most of the days in the month and you think you are doing business.

Well, the DISCOS inherited a messed up situation from the government...a sector which had been hobbled by years of chronic underfunding, and by people refusing to pay for power .

Add the fact that banks won't lend them money because they know that most people won't pay for power....

The elephant in the room, as I keep saying is that people aren't ready to pay enough for power. Power is undervalued in this country, plus foreign investors won't come in because they know that government would force them to charge below the price of production.

And even with meters in place, and power being in good supply, people still bypass them....

Plus, the gsm companies, when they came, did not put everything in place. Service was poor for the first several years. Yet we paid, and they took our money and made things better.

ValCon888:
Now is not the time to be cutting light.
In fact, being a PHCN staff is currently one of the most dangerous jobs in Nigeria today.

That same job the dude on the pole is doing is a high paying job in my country of residence. $130,000k per year.

Anyway, when those guys come back with police, na to remove the transformer serving that community for 6 months.

codedguy1:


Please stop comparing electricity with the gsm coys it doesn't make sense at all.

The only way is for them to make sure they can supply light 24/7, make sure everyone has prepaid.

That they want to use the money people pay to expand as things are is folly.

They are both private companies, and I see no reason why I should not compare them.

Nigeria, according to experts in the field, needs $900billion over 30 years to get light 24/7. And if we don't pay, like we did for the GSM companies, even when service was so poor that you could not call easily between networks, they won't get the money to get there.

Women are getting more liver than men these days

Jaqenhghar:

You missed my point. As a customer I am not responsible for the way you run your business. I want services, you want my money. I am paying you to deliver. If you cant give me what I want dont collect my money. dont open shop. Simple

The problem is, in a sutuation where 50% of your customers are not paying, how can you then deliver effectively.

You operate at a loss, or you close shop. Either way, it can't work for long.

That is the issue with the power sector.

codedguy1:


Please stop comparing electricity with the gsm coys it doesn't make sense at all.

The only way is for them to make sure they can supply light 24/7, make sure everyone has prepaid.

That they want to use the money people pay to expand as things are is folly.

Nigerians will surely bypass the prepaid meters. It's not a solution at all

kikero:


They are both private companies, and I see no reason why I should not compare them.

Nigeria, according to experts in the field, needs $900billion over 30 years to get light 24/7. And if we don't pay, like we did for the GSM companies, even when service was so poor that you could not call easily between networks, they won't get the money to get there.

I wasn't comparing them based on their status. I did that based on what both companies offer as service.

I can infer from what you said that the gsm people did what they ought to do to be able to expand.

What did the discos do with the funding the govt gave them? When they bought the companies did they not do due diligence?

membranus:


You must be working with one of the EDCs?

Nope. I even had issue with them in the past...

You are actively making excuses for their inability to provide excellent power deliveries.

No, just being realistic. If you were selling biscuits, and 50% of your customers do not pay for the biscuits they buy from you, can you run your business effectively.

When they rush to buy those facilities didn't they do their project analysis of the environment they are investing in, and provide for all the exigencies in the contracts?

I daresay they did. I can't speak for them, but the thing is, they were the only companies who bought the thing at a time when no foreign investor would buy because the government made the condtion that they , not the private companies, would be the ones setting the price.

But they rush to buy thinking these are easy milk cows they can continue to exploit till eternity.

Well, what did you expect? Businessmen are into the business of making money, not making you happy. That is why I would have loved it if Nigeria was a socialist country...but the problem is, we don;t have the money to run a socialst economy so we have to turn to them capitalists...

Are they saying they have all been making losses all these days, and they are still in the business?

Yes...as a PriceWaterhouseCooper paper puts it...all DISCOS have been reporting losses since 2013.(Paper here, see page 18)

Let them improve on what they met on ground, and give us the world standard service that we deserve.

They can only improve on it if we pay. We all paid for bad GSM services in 2001-3, and they took our money and made improvements to their services. You cannot expect improvements when as much as 50% of the customers are not paying , would you? Even if they improved supply, the losses they are making won't allow them to keep maintaining the gains made.

codedguy1:


I wasn't comparing them based on their status. I did that based on what both companies offer as service.

I can infer from what you said that the gsm people did what they ought to do to be able to expand.

What did the discos do with the funding the govt gave them? When they bought the companies did they not do due diligence?

1.The government did not pay counterpart funding for a long time...which is why by 2016, DISCOS took an advertisment in the dailies to ask government to pay up.

2.Even then, when government paid, the fact that they are running at a loss anyway means that debts , etc swallowed the money.

3.I don't know if they did due dilligence, but I daresay they did. They probabaly expected that they would get financing to improve things too...but since the banks refused to lend them money easily because....liquidity problems.

salford1:

Nigerians will surely bypass the prepaid meters. It's not a solution at all

That is not the issue. Let them give the prepaid. It is for the discos to find a way to stop that. So because people will bypass they should continue with outrageous estimated billing.

For example, When you start a bank, the onus is on you to find a way to limit fraud by putting everything necessary to catch fraudsters. Or you can go ahead and employ only your church members in the bank on the pretext that they are all holy so no need for any fraud detecting device or mechanism. Your choice!

kikero:


It is sad, and I don't like blaming Nigerians for it, but it is the truth.

Back when I was a student, I was living in an off campus apartment. We were supposed to be sharing the bills, but at the end of the day, less than 20% of us, (including me) were the ones paying the bill for the entire block of apartments.

Everyone else refused to pay his or her share. (Most of us were students at various tertiary instituitons).

One high ranking DISCO offical told a relative of mine in confidence that most people in the region he supervised did not pay, thus they put pressure on those who did pay......

kikero:


The problem is, in a sutuation where 50% of your customers are not paying, how can you then deliver effectively.

You operate at a loss, or you close shop. Either way, it can't work for long.

That is the issue with the power sector.

Spot on. Electricity business is expensive.
Nigeria is a very complex country that people hate paying utility bills.
They probably came with a list of houses not paying bills. Now those that pay their bills will also suffer for the actions of a few.

Tell me about it. When I was growing up in naija, all those street welders would use bamboo poles to hook their wire to the distribution line, when they are done for the day or hear that NEPA is in town, they use the bamboo poles to disconnect the wires, roll them up and hide them in the shop till the coast is clear

What about those that will call electricians to reconnect then back or bypass meters? Those things were serious crimes.

Interestingly, I now work for an utility firm outside the country. Here if you attempt to steal electricity, the neighbors would call the police because when fraud increases, the company supplying electricity would increase the rate for everyone to cover their losses and implement enhanced fraud monitors. Same way insurance companies behave. Increase in fraudulent claims means increase in insurance rate for everyone.

Electricity is also a privilege, when you are caught, na jail sure pass, and the company can decline the fraudulent customer electricity for ever. Like a ban. Same way some airline ban customers for life.

salford1:

Spot on. Electricity business is expensive.
Nigeria is a very complex country that people hate paying utility bills.

It is sad, and I don't like blaming Nigerians for it, but it is the truth.

Back when I was a student, I was living in an off campus apartment. We were supposed to be sharing the bills, but at the end of the day, less than 20% of us, (including me) were the ones paying the bill for the entire block of apartments.

Everyone else refused to pay his or her share. (Most of us were students at various tertiary instituitons).

One high ranking DISCO offical told a relative of mine in confidence that most people in the region he supervised did not pay, thus they put pressure on those who did pay......

This is really really serious. Transferred aggression. May God save Nigeria.

Meanwhile I have got good news for everyone here. 1 Timothy 1:15
[15]This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
God our creator, created us in His own image and likeness Gen 1:26. The image of God and likeness here is not necessarily having hands, legs, mouth, nose etc. It goes far beyond that. As a matter of fact it is His very nature or attributes that He is referring to. Mathew 5:48 You, therefore, must be perfect [growing into complete maturity of godliness in mind and character, having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity], as your heavenly Father is perfect.
This is God's design and expectation from us when he created us. Leviticus 19:2. But man failed God woefully. Romans 5:19 says
[19]For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. The good news is this by one man (Adam) many (you and I) were made sinners. But God fashioned a way out of this bondage of sin by introducing His own son Jesus who obeyed Him to the cross. Look at what Jesus did for you and I, He paid the supreme price for us, so that we will not need to pay for our sin/debt again. That's the good news I am talking about. But one more thing is still required of you and I. If I issue you a billion dollar cheque with my signature inscribed on it, and you refuse to stretch out your hand to receive it, does that suggest you really want to claim the a billion dollar bill offered to you for free? I don't think so. Same applies to the free gift of salvation, you need to consciously receive Jesus as your Lord and savior He is the free gift of God for salvation.
Romans 5:18
[18]Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
God bless you as you take the right decision now to right the wrong.

For counseling WhatsApp or text 08033730233

Help a fellow nairalander.
I haven't resume work yet and I am so broke.
Pls help a brother in need. I can't feed myself.
01_6_28_7_79_16 g_t_b

kikero:


And when you start a business, you expect people to pay for services. The fact is, many Nigerians are not paying for their services, and this has a knock on effect on an important part of business...recovering costs, and making enough profit to make more improvements.

That's how the GSM companies roll. A large amount of the improvemnts they have made over the years comes in part from our pockets. Because we all pay for their services...they have the money not only to make improvements, but to take loans, and make more improvements, which we keep paying for.

DISCOS and GENCOS did invest money in the sector. And Government paid counterpart funding. Where the problem arises is that 1) people not paying their bills, and that includes people on meters 2) Government sets their price, which is below production price, which makes it difficult for them to make profits and recoup invenstment...and by extension prevents foreign investment in the sector...because no one is going to invest his money in the sector without returns.

By the way, them DISCOS and GENCOS did not get money from the banks because of the reasons I gave above. No bank was willing to lend to DISCOS and gencos because...many people are not paying their power bills, so the money to pay back the loans won't be avialable (By contrast, because everyone pays for MTN,9mobile, AIRTEL AND GLO services, big banks, local and international, are willing to lend them cash, because they know long term they would see their money back.)

We are getting what we paid for powerwise, just as we are getting what we paid for GSM wise.

P.S Here is this whitepaper by PriceWaterhouseCoopers on the power issue in Nigeria. A critical point made here



The scary point about the paper is that DISCOS and GENCOS have been running at a loss since 2013. Because...people ain't paying enough...and not just the people, the government.

And like I mentioned earlier. Electricity business is very expensive.
My employer spends about $900million dollars per year to maintain the electricity infrastructure supplying a population of just over 1million people. That is just maintenance money oo i.e. capital spending. I am not even going to mention cost of other projects. If people do not pay bills, where is this money going to come from? The government?

The Nigeria government on the other hand allocates just over $400million for the power industry to serve almost 200million people in the last budget. Joke of a country.

Anfield247:
If na me, I beat craze from that woman...

u neva jam woman were get madness 4 fight

MOSICATED5:
PEOPLE CAN BE FOOLISH, DEM DEY BEAT UR COLLEAGUE U STILL DEY CLIMB LADA

He forgot safety first

kikero:

Take the GSM companies. When they first came, we were paying N10000 for sim card, more for complete package. (Back then, guys bought a GSM phone and then started business with the phone to recoup their investment, haha. I knew two people who did that).

And the service back then was awful. Missed calls, problems with calls between networks (for a while, one could not call a Econet number with an MTN number, that was the begining of Nigerians having two phone lines).

Yet we paid. And the GSM companies took our money and used it to improve services.

Memories. My mum once bought an MTN simcard for N25k back then, and call was like 50 naira per minute. I totally forgot the part were you can't call MTN on Econet line and vice versa. We have come a long way.

Babyforever:
Go girl she actually dealt with him

See as the guy do 4/40

I trust the Discos, they will surely act, lawlessness should never be condoned in a just society, infact those involved should be arrested and dealt with.