PH To Face Blackout,August …As Afam Power Plant Shuts Down

Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital and its environs will experience a major blackout that would last for one month, beginning from August 1, 2011.

The new business Manager, Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) Diobu Business Unit, Engr Festus A. Nmegbu, who dropped this hint yesterday in an interview with The Tide in Port Harcourt, said the interruption in electricity supply would be as a result of a reconstruction job on PHCN’s 132 KV Line from Afam to Port Harcourt.

“This is to enable contractors handling the reconstruction of the line  to conclude their job. On conclusion, power export to Rivers State from Afam is expected to improve”, Engr Nmegbu explained.

According to the Business Manager, the interruption, which would affect all classes of the company’s customers, will last from 8am till 6pm daily.

He said only the areas covered by Rivers State Power Station, Omoku and Ahoada, which are fed from Owerri 132 KV line would have their normal supply.

Engr Nmegbu, who appealed to numerous customers of PHCN to bear with it while the job lasts, stressed that the reconstruction was part of the Federal Government’s efforts to improve on the existing power supply in the country.

Diobu Business Unit, he further disclosed, intends to hold a meeting next week with customers to properly discuss the development to enable them adjust while the interruption period lasts.

Meanwhile,  some electricity consumers in Lagos have threatened to sue the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) for approving an increase in tariff without resolving the nation’s epileptic power supply.

The consumers told newsmen yesterday in separate interviews that it was inconceivable for the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to increase electricity tariff when the citizens were battling the effects of power outages.

Alhaji Salami Badru, Chairman, Bariga Community Development Area, warned that if NERC failed to reverse the tariff increase, the association would not have any choice than to seek legal redress.

Badru said the PHCN should provide adequate electricity supply before increasing tariff.

“We are tired of the whole billing system of PHCN; despite inadequate electricity supply, they still enforce increase in tariff”.

“We will not hesitate to take legal action against PHCN and NERC over arbitrary charges of various forms included in the electricity payment on pre-paid metres payment vouchers,’’ he said.

Mr Jola Ogunlusi, Chairman, Festac Town Residents Association (FTRA), criticised the tariff increase, saying it was wrong for NERC to have endorsed the hike.

Ogunlusi said that the government should have addressed the national electricity supply problem and other ancillary issues such as estimated billing and non-availability of prepaid metres before increasing the tariff.

“While we appreciate the current reforms in the power sector by NERC, we are really concerned about the increase in electricity tariff. Consumers cannot just continue to pay for what they don’t consume”.

“Power should be made available first before NERC thinks of tariff increase. We are concerned about this issue because any increase in tariff should be matched with increased power supply,’’ he said.

Another consumer, Mr Andrew Johnson, Managing Director, Ocean Sea Pure Water in Ikorodu, urged the government to critically evaluate the new electricity tariff in the face of economic constraints.

Johnson said that his factory depended on generator for production though it pays about N2,400 monthly as metre maintenance charges outside the usual electricity consumption bill.

He said a critical study of current PHCN billing system would show the level of “illegality within the national electricity company”.

“Government should see reason to respond to the yearnings of the people and urgently address those abnormalities in the bill for justice to prevail; customers should not be left to suffer.”

In her contribution, Mrs Abimbola Talabi, a banker, said the tariff increase was a mockery of the Federal Government’s avowed commitment to the welfare of the citizenry, stressing that the new tariff was another effort to compound the woes of the masses.

“How can they increase tariff at this point in time when there is no electricity? We are still in darkness and they want to make us pay more. It is really a shame. If their argument is that it is part of reforming the power sector, then they should have first made the power available before asking the people to pay more,” she said.

Our correspondent  recalls that PHCN had from July 1, 2011 increased electricity tariff to N10 per kilowatt from N5.90, while the tariff for commercial concerns rose from N11.20 to N22 per kilowatt under the Multi-Year Tariff Order Act of 2008.

Chris Oluoh