Power privatisation one year after

When the assets of the unbundled Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) were privatised over a year ago, the expectations of Nigerians were high as they thought a relief had finally come their way and they would soon begin to experience uninterrupted power supply.

Before the privatisation of the government-owned assets, Nigerians had for years suffered epileptic power situations owing to the criminal neglect of the sector by successive governments. For more than 20 years there were no new power plants that could complement the old and dilapidated ones on ground both at the generation, transmission and distribution networks.

However, contrary to the expectations of better times ahead by Nigerians, what we get from the new investors in the power sector so far is more of bad than good news. Power supply in many parts of the country is at an all-time low and businesses and homes have been left to continue to bear the huge cost of generating their own power through their power generating sets.

To make matters worse, there is the issue of crazy bills freely generated and handed down to consumers without commensurate power supply. The hopes of many Nigerians that they would be issued with prepaid meters have not been met and so the new investors have continued with the estimated billing system of old, which ends up short-changing the consumers.

Surprisingly too, against what they had hoped would obtain in the new order of private sector management, consumers are still saddled with the burden of having to buy equipment to replace critical facilities that get damaged within their network, a system that was a common practice in the old order.

As it stands, it is the opinion of many Nigerians that they are worse off in the current dispensation than they ever had been. For them, they have merely sold a dog to buy a monkey. Average daily power supply in most parts of the country today is about two hours, while many quarters are left without power supply for days and weeks running, yet bills are sent to them at the end of the month. A place like Isanlu in Kogi State, which is under the jurisdiction of Abuja Electricity Distribution Zone, has not seen electricity power in the last one year. And that’s just one out of many possible examples.

While we reason with the electricity companies that there are gas challenges as well as the issue of pipeline vandalism which impact negatively on their operations, we, however, state categorically that such matters must not be taken out on consumers. Consumers must not be made to pay for power that they did not consume.

Power companies (both Gencos and Discos) must begin to look for innovative ways to solve the challenges rather than the blame game that has become a familiar song among the distribution companies. We cannot deny the fact that the power facilities were in a terribly bad shape when they were bought by the private sector operators, but we also believe that when they bought into the privatised power assets, the private operators knew they were in it for the long haul. In our view, therefore, investing in revamping equipment, rather than concentrating on how to rake in revenue from consumers without commensurate service rendered, should be the focus at this point.

Given the critical role power plays in industrialisation process and, ultimately, in the economic development and growth of any nation, we strongly believe that, in spite of these initial pitfalls, private sector involvement in Nigeria’s power sector is one of the best things to have happened to this country and should be supported by any sane mind. And considering that lack of foresight by public managers of the sector over time brought the country to a dismal level of economic dilapidation and woes resulting in high rate of joblessness, the private operators must get it right.