Canticles... Electricity: Tariffs and Fury
Did you follow the public protests last Monday?
Protests? You mean by the Imo state civil servants?
Oh, that one? I think it was a needless protest.
Really? You call it needless?You mean a tariff increase of 40 per cent did not jolt you? And you call mass protest against such arbitrariness a needless protest? Have you gone so mercantile and lost every sense of humanism?
Are you implying that those who increased the electricity tariff and those supporting the increase are inhuman?
How else can we describe such a heartless act? Here is a service that is hardly available. Here is a service that is as notorious as the Jericho harlot. Here is a service that operates so arbitrarily by billing people most whimsically. Here is a service that is still run on analogue equipment in this time and age?Here is a system that has refused to develop beyond hydro and gas-powered plants whereas the world is exploring on solar and even wind energy. This is the same service that has gulped the nation’s huge resources with almost nothing to show for it. Here is a service that disgraces…
(cuts in) Enough! You speak like a street activist who does not bother to understand the dynamics of how things work. You speak like a mere rabble rouser. You speak like one playing to the gallery. You speak like one whose heart drives the head and not the other way round. You talk like…
I complain you call me names?
(Cuts in) Stop calling me names! Everybody in Nigeria knows how notorious the Electricity companies are. Everybody understands how exploitative they are. How they plan and plot to reap from where they did not sow.Tell me, since you defend them with such passion, ever since they inherited the various power stations in the country? What fortune have they brought to Nigerians? Have generators stop humming and wailing in the neighbourhoods? Have small and medium scale businesses sprang up? Have Nigerians enjoyed the benefit of what they even pay for? Is it not such a notorious fact that these electricity vendors still force their Bills on people without any scientific proof of what was consumed? Is it not true that they still give estimated Bills, some of which they even describe as crazy Bills since they will not even read the old meters? And you defend all such anomalies? And when
Do you know the terms and conditions under which the new investors in the sector brought in their hard-earned money into the sector? Do you know how much they pay to service the bank loans they took? Do you know how the system has denied them of their returns all in the name of politics?
I don’t understand you. How did the system deny them their returns? Are they servicing the system or the people? Don’t they collect their Bills from the customers they serve? What system are you talking about?
Do you know that the system has stopped them from implementing the Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO)? Do you know the government through the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has been standing in the way of the investors from getting their due from the customers? Do you know that the kind of legislations being pushed by the NERC will mean that the investors will hardly ever recover their investment? Do you know how government has been shifting the take off point of new tariff all because of politics? How long shall the investors keep pouring in huge cash with no reliable recovery hope?
No wonder you described the protests as needless.You mean but for NERC, Nigerians would have been sweating and paying for darkness with tears? Where does it happen?You beam darkness and you want us to pay through our noses because they borrowed money from the bank? Who sent them? Did they not voluntarily bid to buy the generating plants? What is the business of the common man about whether or not investors took loan? Look, all Nigerians want is for light to be available whenever and wherever they need it. Look, since you are the advocate of the so-called investors give them these messages. First, if they want Nigerians to pay higher tariff, they should first improve power supply. They cannot be beaming darkness and expect Nigerians to be enthusiastic to pay high tariff. It is service before payment and not payment before service. Nigerians have every reason to be suspicious. NEPA, PHCN or NIPP have serially raped Nigerians in the past. So if they are suspicious now, it is justified.
Two, tell them their investments cannot be recouped within a year or so.They must be prepared for a long distance race in hoping to recover their investments.
Tell them that the regime of excuses and allegations of sabotage are over.They must get down to brass tacks or return the operating licences they were issued.
Tell them that in this time and age, the request for pre-paid meters by the people is neither a sin nor is it inappropriate. How many times have they seen Nigerians protest over the airtime they load into their telephones? When the money finishes, calling service ends. Simple!
It is such talks that retard the growth and development of this energy sector.
Look, I wont continue this argument with you.Your saving grace is that Nigerians have very little option aside the huge expense of running generating plants and buzzing up the neighhbourhood with riotous noise.
But you and your capitalist ilk must be told that the okra can never outgrow its owner. No matter how sharp a knife is, it cannot cut its own head.
Before you gallon me full with anecdotes of old proverbs, let me remind you that the only permanent thing in life is change. We cannot keep stealing electricity, refusing to pay Bills, or vandalizing electrical equipment and expect that one morning Nigeria’s electricity will shine like that of heaven which blinketh not. We must all begin to act responsibly and watch things change gradually but steadily. That is the way to go.