The utterances and actions of the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, since he arrived office indicated he wanted to achieve much for the sector. He says he wants to bring electricity to Nigerians, and he’s been pushing as hard as he can, including his determined efforts to protect power infrastructure from vandals. Lately, though, Tegbe said the Federal Government can no longer cover electricity tariff shortfalls and be expected to provide power to every Nigerian. My reading is that tariff shortfall being covered by the government is traceable to how DisCos don’t bring in every revenue. Electricity theft is one of the reasons. As such, the foremost way to deal with tariff shortfall is for DisCos to bring in every revenue by stopping electricity theft. And I think it’s the easiest of all the tasks the minister needs to embark on to straighten the sector. If electricity theft doesn’t stop, every other effort will amount to throwing water in basket. His comments point to this.

According to the minister, the government is working to address structural problems in the electricity market, including poor revenue collection, inadequate metering, accumulated debts to power generation companies, and weaknesses in the existing market structure. He notes a 40 per cent metering gap, stating that if DisCos don’t meter customers, there’s no easy way for customers to pay. For this reason, government is to deploy 7.5 million meters in the next three years. I think inadequate metering is just one of the problems responsible for fall in revenue collection. Meter or no meter, electricity theft will persist if nothing is done to stop it. When theft persists, revenue falls, tariffs are jerked up, and the government comes up with more financial assistance for the sector. It’s worth noting that Tegbe stated that a company stole 150 megawatts of power every day by connecting illegally to the national grid. Note that this is what is declared discovered, not everything that is being stolen across the country.

I’m certain the identified company here colludes with some who know the workings of the power sector, if not staff of DisCos themselves. Add the loss to what some households across the country steal, and the reason DisCos can’t get their full revenue doesn’t need to be researched any further. To me, thieving the electricity Tegbe and his team make so much efforts to provide is the main reason there’s shortfall in revenue and government isn’t able to provide power for all Nigerians. Above other fallouts of the inefficiencies of this sector over the years, constant hike in tariff based on the excuse of revenue shortfall has always been my concern. I observe that consumers who don’t pay at all use free electricity. But consumers who already pay using pre-paid meters are compelled to pay even more to cover for those who pay nothing, through incessant hike in tariff. This isn’t only discouraging, it’s unfair; and it’s been going on for too long.

Worse, every official talking about the problems of the power sector pretends theft isn’t happening, or that legal users of electricity aren’t being punished further each time hike in tariff is proposed. For many years, such pretence is obvious whenever government or DisCos officials say tariffs don’t reflect commercially viable pricing. We know a hike in tariffs can’t be the only way out, but it’s what every official talks about. Electricity theft is the number factor DisCos won’t ever be able to break even, and I’m not even stating this for the first time on this page.

As it turned out, two days before Tegbe made his recent comment at a public event, I had watched an energy expert talking about electricity theft on TV. For the simple reason that this energy expert saw things the way I did, I wanted to address the topic on this page straightaway, but I dropped it. That was until Tegbe made the comment he did. The only reason I take it up is to state that many honest Nigerians pay for the electricity they use, and they’re made to pay too for the electricity other dishonest people use but don’t pay for. This is done through constant hike in tariff. How can electricity theft be happening for so long, but no one appears willing to stop it? Officials are silent about it. Instead, hike in tariff, which I rate as a lazy and easy approach, has been how they address this problem over the years. Along the way, officials also throw more government money at the sector in the name of government assistance. It’s the pattern: we throw money at every problem rather than roll up our sleeves and do the hard work needed to resolve fundamental challenges.

As for the other challenges confronting the power sector, including vandalisation of infrastructure, officials had in the past folded their hands, unwilling to really tackle them. I find this concerning, too. No one wanted to address fundamental problems of the sector, and no high state official focused on electricity theft. I find the response of DisCos to this challenge rather strange. In the areas I’ve observed, especially for DisCos that are serious about making money, I notice there tends to be more power supply where DisCos get revenue regularly. As for congested environments where it’s more difficult to make people pay for the amount of power distributed, there’s more of darkness. If this supposition isn’t correct, at least we’ve heard DisCo officials themselves saying publicly that they don’t want transmission companies to dump power where they (DisCos) don’t want it dumped.

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Nonetheless, and regarding this, I’ve asked questions on this page: what do DisCos mean they don’t want power dumped in some areas? Are there neighbourhoods in Nigeria that don’t need electricity? Which part of Nigeria is power not supposed to be supplied by the transmission company? If the population of an area is low and much energy isn’t needed, that’s different. It’s different from densely populated areas but which are not given light for weeks.

What does this connote?

DisCos suffer revenue losses in densely populated areas the most. Electricity theft is one reason. Rather than fix this problem, DisCos put people in such areas in darkness. Is refusing to supply consumers electricity the solution to revenue loss? This is one angle the power minister needs to look into.

Meanwhile, illegal connections that facilitate electricity theft are there to be seen in the open. Illegal structures and their occupants play a part here. I’ve always stated in private conversations that once illegal structures are permitted in an area, that’s an invitation to more complex environmental problems. Illegal structures don’t just constitute eyesores to the environment; they’re a drain on electricity supply, as well as the strain they put on other available public infrastructure. Occupants of illegal structures must illegally tap electricity and use it in their roadside sheds. Check the electricity poles next to wherever they are. Illegal connections are common – in the air and underground. Along the perimeter fence of one major state government facility, I observe that for a distance of over one hundred metres the wall was covered with illegal structures and illegally fixed cables that bring electricity to them from the electricity poles nearby. DisCo staff members walk past such areas regularly, they see the network of cables but do nothing about it. In congested neighbourhoods with few access roads, work needs to be done to bring about sanity regarding electricity theft. But it seems DisCos aren’t ready to put in the needed work. Is this how the sector would continue?

Meanwhile, it’s not only consumers that steal electricity, everyone in the value chain steals something. Those sitting behind desks make money from this badly administered sector. If anyone says the current arrangement is different from the bad arrangement of the NEPA days, they haven’t been dealing with workers in this sector. This sector is on its head; everyone makes money off the companies they work for. Add this to the structure of the companies themselves. Add they adequately staffed, appropriately configured, and fit for purpose? Consumers go to DisCo offices to complain about what needs to be fixed, and often it’s touts who return home with them to fix even new meters. Contact DisCo workers to fix a problem on an electricity pole, and they already have fixed prices they charge for their pockets, aside from poles and cables that customers are told to purchase to get the work done. Meanwhile, some DisCos, especially the EKO DisCos, have been identified as deploying technology to stop electricity theft. What about other DisCos across the country? Have they keyed into this? I urge Power Minister Tegbe to look into the matter, and compel the adoption of technology by every DisCo to fix rampant electricity theft.

Source: Punch · Tunji Ajibade

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