Politically speaking, while Nigerians are still trying to adjust to the harsh realities of the electricity subsidy removal that was announced by the government on 3rd April 2024, the Discos seem not to be helping matters by their unacceptable behavior with regards to ensuring that they act responsibly in the implementation of this new policy by improving on service delivery to Nigerians.

 The above observation stems from two rebuttals by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to claims made by the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) and Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) on why they failed to give power supply to their band A customers. In its April 9th publication, IBEDC attributed its inability to “deliver estimated hours of supply to your feeder” to TCN and circulated the publication across their social media platforms.

In its prompt rebuttal, TCN explained that most of the affected feeders mentioned in the publication are outside TCN network.

On its part, BEDC claimed that its inability to deliver 20 hours power supply to its customers was due to tripping on earth fault at Amukpe as a result of a punctured XLPE cable at Effurun, both TCN Substations, which has also been denied by TCN.

The above behavior by some of the Discos is unacceptable but not surprising because since they took over the various Distribution Companies in 2013, their investment efforts have not been up to expectation, which is an indication of their ill-preparedness to comply with the requirements of this new policy.

In light of the above, the Regulator has to closely monitor and watch the behavior of the Discos so as to ensure that they focus on improving services to their customers and not only on revenue generation and collection. The services rendered to band A customers must be commensurate with the new tariff being paid while customers on the remaining bands B - E should not be shortchanged by the Discos. It is necessary to quickly respond to faults reported by all customers and not discriminate on the basis of the band such customers belong.

Finally, Discos and the public must be aware that the aim of the tariff adjustment is both to improve revenue generation and service delivery at the same time for the benefit of the entire Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).