Residents of Kano, Katsina and Jigawa states have been undergoing hardship following cuts in power supply by the Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO).

They said in the last three days, they got power supply for between two and three hours daily.

This is just as several Small-Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in the states said they were facing difficulties operating due to poor power supply and shortages.

Daily Trust’s findings revealed that businesses like welding, tailoring, phone charging, ice making and other small trades have been thrown into difficulties due to the shortage in electricity supply while others don’t even receive any power supply from the distribution company for days.

The KEDCO has apologised for the poor supply and blamed it on a system upgrade on its critical distribution infrastructure and vegetation control on electricity feeders requiring safe working space for its engineers.

Residents in the affected states have also been groaning as several basic amenities such as water supply and others are affected.

Water vendors increase price in Kano

In Kano State, a resident of Hotoro North in Nassarawa Local Government Area, Gambo Muhammad, said 25 litres of water sold at N70 before the shortage is now selling at N120 due to the power shortage.

“We are finding it very difficult to get access to affordable drinking water here. The main source of water in Kano is through boreholes and these boreholes are being powered by electricity. Therefore, without power supply, operators of the water businesses were forced to use other sources, which are expensive to operate and as such, water vendors incur additional charges which necessitate an increase in price of the water. To make it worse, not every centre can adequately afford it and that has made the water a little bit scarce in some places,” he said.

In some places, it was gathered that one had to wake up as early as 6:00am to look for a water vendor, while some water vendors claimed that they had to spend the night in the queue just to get their supply for the day.

It was also revealed that the ice block made from sachet water selling at N100 is now N200 per piece.

Why poor power supply?

Speaking on the poor supply in the state, the Head, Corporate Communications of KEDCO, Sani Bala Sani, in a statement on Saturday, blamed the poor supply to the ongoing network upgrades in some of its critical distribution infrastructure.

While apologising for the continuous outage, Sani said the company is also engaging in vegetation control on its feeders, which require safe working space for its engineers.

“We wish to sincerely apologise to our valued customers for the slight drop in power supply currently experienced across our franchise area….

“Recall that we have made significant progress in enhancing electricity distribution, and the results are evident, with longer hours of uninterrupted power, quicker response times, and better service delivery.

“As we remain committed to maintaining and even surpassing these improvements and in view of the forthcoming rainy season, it became necessary to carry out the upgrades to forestall any network disruptions.

“We sincerely regret all inconveniences caused, while assuring you that normal supply shall be restored as soon as the work is completed. We appreciate your understanding and patience.

Welder loses ‘mouthwatering contract’ in Jigawa

In Jigawa State, people have resorted to the use of abandoned wells to source for water and also various businesses such as welding and other related businesses have been grounded due to shortage of power supply. It was also gathered that the shortage had affected the price of some commodities such as cooking oil, ice blocks and phone charging as operators had increased their charges to cover the extra expenditure they incurred.

According to a water vendor, Sani Talle, electricity has been elusive in his area for three days and thus has not loaded his truck due to lack of water as a result of power shortage in the state. He explained that the power shortage has forced many water vendors to abandon their trucks and look for other things to be able to keep body and soul alive.

“They only provide electricity two or three hours a day, and in Jigawa here, the source of water is usually the boreholes and you can imagine the volume of water a two-hour power supply can pump. For three days now, I have been sitting down because there is no water to sell. If you go round, you will find out people are now using well water for their daily usage,” he said.

He added that there are many vendors like him who are considering adopting other means of survival and abandoning their vendor work as electricity supply is always going down.

On his part, Jamilu Shuwarin, a welder said he does nothing in his shop daily due to the power outage.

“I open in the morning and close in the evening without doing anything. I have lost a mouthwatering contract to someone who has more capital than me and can work with big electricity generating machines.”

He said his situation has made feeding his family difficult as he couldn’t afford to complement the shortage of electricity with other sources of power supply.

Netizens react

The conversation has also made waves on Nigeria’s cybersphere with netizens complaining how long it took for KEDCO to speak on the poor power supply.

Writing under an X post of KEDCO, Abdulmalik Attah described the position of the company as a ‘story’, adding that the situation means there wouldn’t be electricity in the franchise states for three weeks if the maintenance lasted that long.

Another X user, Muhammad Madaka, said the notice is coming late and is basically useless.

“It is after people have been complaining seriously you decided to come up with this excuse of a notice, no timeframe of when the supposed upgrade will be done.”

Rabiu Adam, who tagged the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in his comment, alleged that KEDCO is prioritising Kano as Katsina has always suffered at the hands of KEDCO.

“Even the KEDCO staff in Katsina don’t know the reason for the power outage. Almost a week of no supply and calling it a slight drop is crazy.”

Ibrahim Salisu Jibia said he is not happy with the current situation as the GRA feeder in Katsina supplying electricity to his house has gone for three days, keeping residents in darkness. “Something needs to be done please,” he pleaded.

SMEs shut down in Katsina

In Katsina State, the situation is similar, as residents claimed that they don’t get electricity supply that lasts for three hours. Residents of the state revealed that it is disheartening the rate at which SMEs are shutting down their businesses due to poor electricity supply.

NERC fines 8 DisCos

This is coming two weeks after the NERC announced it had fined eight electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) N628,031,583.94 (million) for violating its capping order on estimated bills for unmetered customers.

According to NERC, the companies, which included KEDCO, were fined in pursuant to section 34(1)(d) of the Electricity Act 2023 (“EA 2023”) and for not to fully complying with the monthly energy caps issued by the commission between July – September 2024 (2024/Q3).

Others include Abuja, Eko, Enugu, Ikeja, Jos, Kaduna, and Yola DisCos.

“The public may recall that in 2020, the commission issued the Order on Capping of Estimated Bills (Order No: NERC/197/2020) and subsequently issued monthly energy caps, which aimed to align the estimated bills for unmetered customers with the measured consumption of metered customers on the same supply feeder. A review of DisCos’ billing of unmetered customers for July – September 2024 (2024/Q3) revealed non-compliance with the monthly energy caps issued by the Commission.”