One week after the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) increased electricity tariff for Band A customers to N225 per kilowatt hour from N68, electricity distribution companies are finding it hard to sustain the 20-24 hour supply to their customers on the band.

It would be recalled that NERC had on April 3 increased the tariff for electricity customers that enjoyed a minimum of 20 hours electricity supply daily with the aim of attracting investment into the sector and freeing the government from the continuous payment of subsidy for rich customers.

But it was observed that one week after the increase, there has been a daily post of apologies by at least one DisCo or the other for not meeting the contractual agreement for supplying electricity to their customers as provided in the new Multi-Year Tariff Order, MYTO, April supplementary order.

Checks on the X profile of the 11 DisCos showed that since the tariff review, the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution has made 10 apologies for its service shortfall to its Band A customers with the latest being yesterday, April 11.

The apology explained that the DisCo failed to meet its contractual service from the 9th and 10th of April affecting Amika, Oyigbo and Bristol Band A feeders.

It noted that the reason for poor service was a load shedding from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) as well as loss of supply from the Afam Generating plant.

The apology message promised to “Assiduously work with TCN to address these challenges and restore regular power supply to the affected areas promptly.

“We apologize for any inconveniences caused and appreciate your patience during this time.”

The same situation occurred with the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) with the latest apology coming yesterday, with five cases of apology posted on its X handle.

The affected feeders are 7UP 11KV feeder, Joyceb/Tatcon 11kv feeder and Top Success 11kv feeder while blaming faults on the 33kV lines for the reduced service.

Kaduna Electric also made five apology posts in the past week with the latest being yesterday affecting its 33kv on airport road.

It blamed the TCN System load shedding (six hours) and five hours tripping from Kaduna Electric circuit.

Benin Electricity Distribution (BEDC) made six apology posts on its X handle with the latest being yesterday, it blamed Amukpe, Delta and Effurun feeders tripping and rainfall for the drop in electricity supply.

For Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), 20 out of its 44 feeders experienced low power supply ranging from one to three days during the day.

The latest was yesterday with 10 feeders affected; it blamed TCN and itself for the low supply.

Only two were reported on the X handle of the Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC), the latest on April 10 affecting two feeders at New Wukari and Wukari feeders all blamed on loss of supply from TCN.

While the Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) did not post an apology for not meeting agreed supply to its customers, a weekly report on the daily electricity supply to its feeders showed there were days the company did not provide the minimum of 20 hours supply to its band A customers. The report did not state the reason for the shortfall.

For Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), nine apology posts were made to various feeders on power outages they faced. The company blamed TCN and technical faults for the issues.

For Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JED), the company did not post any information on its power supply to customers under its franchise areas.

DisCos violate NERC’s order

It was observed that only Kaduna Electric provided a daily report on the electricity supplied to its Band A feeders, while KEDCO and EEDC provided information on the weekly report on their Band A feeders.

This nondisclosure violates the new order by NERC that requires the DisCos to publish a daily performance report on its feeders.

According to the order, “DisCos are obligated to publish daily on its website a rolling seven-day average daily hours of supply on each Band A feeder no later than 9am of the next day.”

The order also noted that “Where the DisCo fails to deliver on the committed level of service on a Band A Feeder for consecutive two days, the DisCo shall on the next day by 1am publish on its website an explanation of the reasons for the failure and update the affected customers on the timeline for restoration of service to the committed service level.”

It added that if “the DisCo fails to meet the committed service level to a Band A feeder for seven consecutive days, the feeder shall be automatically downgraded to the recorded level of supply in accordance with applicable framework.”

Daily Trust