State of electricity supply in my area
One recurring issue in Nigeria is poor electricity supply. Constant electricity supply is one thing Nigeria is yet to achieve nationwide.
In the area where I live, the electricity authorities ration the power supply. My street has a specific time during which we would have power. They would bring it by noon, take it by evening, and bring it back at night, keeping it throughout the night, only to take it very early in the morning.
Some days, they don't even give us power at all. I am someone who loves constant electricity and the act of rationing the power supply pisses me off. I don't really know for sure why they ration the power, but I think a reason why they ration it is because there isn't enough power to go round at a time. They don't generate enough electricity.
In previous years, the power situation was more terrible than it is now. In a day, we would only see flashes, and sometimes, we would go days without electricity.
It continued that way until everyone in the area came together and decided that enough is enough. The authorities weren't giving us electricity, yet they came every month for electricity bills. It was as if we were paying for nothing. The people gathered and told the electricity authorities that they won't pay the electricity bills and won't allow them to cut our wires until they gave us steady power at least.
It was a serious issue. The police were also involved. Eventually, the electricity supply got better.
There have been reports of theft of parts of transformers. One thing that usually gets stolen from the transformers is the cables. These aren't just ordinary cables, they are large cables necessary for the transformer to function. These cables are very expensive. It has been a recurring experience for a while.
However, the people living in the area came up with a solution. We built a protective barrier around the transformer, with a gate at the entrance which is locked. Also, the cables were held firmly with cement in a way that it can't be stolen.
Since this was implemented, there have been no incident of transformer theft in the area.
The electricity bill has also been another issue. They give us exorbitant bills despite the fact that they don't give us constant power supply. Most times, it's baffling. You would begin to wonder if the bill is a true reflection of what you used or if they just want to be fraudulent.
A good alternative to these estimated bills are meters. With meters, you pay for what you consume. Unfortunately, the electricity authorities make it difficult to obtain these meters. It can be very frustrating.
I do hope that very soon, the electricity situation nationwide will improve.
