I was not aware of any public announcements by the Kano Electricity Distribution Company (Kedco) in the past few weeks to the eff ect that electricity tariff s would be increased for consumers in its area of operation. So I was utterly shocked when I recently went to buy credit for my prepaid digital metre only to realize after payment that the units I used to get for the amount I paid monthly had decreased considerably.
Th e prepaid metre I use in my house is graded R2(B), for which I often bought units worth N3,000 at the rate of N26.41 per unit and got 108.18 units (KWH) monthly. However, for the month of February this year the tariff cost was arbitrarily hiked to N29.61 for which only 96.49 units was given to me. My worry here is what I consider as unwarranted silent increase in tariff without corresponding improvement in power supply to us consumers. Moreover, one would have thought that under the prevailing precarious economic condition in the country Kedco would be magnanimous enough not to worsen the lives of its customers through unsavoury extortion for service that is not worth what is paid for it. Actually, because of the general dissatisfaction with the performance of the Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs) in the country, Senate President Bukola Saraki recently said he was dismayed that the DISCOs were sold to companies and individuals that were not economically viable enough to be able to sustain the level of production they met on ground and invest heavily in order to improve on it.
One wonders what the Senate intends to do about that. Shu’aibu Maigari, Kano
