Electricity: The Cost And Reliability In My Place
Since machines has taken our most of the things we do, power became very important as many of those gadgets needs to be powered or charged inorder to keep running.
My mobile phone has not only been a source of fun and communication alone for me but also a source of income, only God knows how it would have been if it was not there but as good as it is without power around to charge it, it will be of no use.
Is electricity reliable down here?
Well, the truth is the availability of consistent electrical power supply depends on the kind of environment one lives in. In my place, undeveloped places like villages with few population tend to enjoy stable supply of electric power compared to towns.
Many things can also affect the supply of power, during raining season, power is most likely to be faulty because of wind and you know since it's not a personal something, it often takes time to fix. Other times when pressure becomes much on the transformer it explodes itself and that can result in the absence of electricity for a long period of time.
I know of a community that stayed for over a year without electricity as a result of transformer's explosion, it was early this year they were helped by a politician to get a new one. That thing Is very expensive.
Now, if we will not consider any of those circumstances, I would say light is most reliable in villages than in towns like I said earlier on. I lived in the town before I moved down to a local community close by. In the town, the light is being rationed and they enjoy electricity only for eight hours per day, that is from from 8:00am -12pm then in the evening from 8:00pm to 12am, sometimes 11:pm -3/4 am.
But in the village were I live, not too far from the town though the light is 24hours, except if there is a general power problem. Like it happened few weeks ago. Though recently I heard that power is somewhat stable in the town, atleast the number of hours has been extended. That's a good news because I expect that electricity should be more stable there than in the village because of the level of activities there.
How expensive is electricity?
The charge of electricity depends on the level of consumption and also location. In places like Abuja and Lagos electricity is very expensive compared to small states like mine. Some years back electricity was not that expensive down here, sometimes it's comes for most house 4,500 naira ($5-6) but from ending last year the price hiked to 8,000 Naira ($10) depending on your consumption.
Ideally every house is supposed to have a meter to detect the amount of electricity consumed but most houses here don't and so they ends up paying electric bills that is more than what they consumed.
How can a house that has no refrigerator, no electric cooker, microwave and so on still be paying the same amount of money for electricity as those who have all these gadgets? Maybe it's something beyond what I know.
For where I live, the things I use is just my electric bulb, my fan and my phone's charger. my landlord is supposed to charge me atleast 2000 -3000 naira ($ 3/4) monthly but he doesn't charge me for electricity. I tried convincing him to take it but he said I don't use heavy gadgets so no need, considering our relationship too. LoL . Well the Main bill for the house is 8000($ 10) naira monthly but sometimes it increases to 8500 .
I wish they have a meter to check their consumption but they don't, well the thing is they have a lot of heavy gadgets, refrigerator, electric cooker, microwave, television, ceiling fans and the rest I can't tell if the price is fair or not.
Today I was able to ask few friends and they told me that their bills are also ranging from 8000 8500 naira too. But trust me most people are complaining because it's too high. Though the light is more stable than when it was cheap but the price is still too much.
How to reduce the bills
Since the bills here are not being checked from the meters most people don't bother with the issue of reducing the consumption of electricity except for house with prepared meters but I think the best way to reduce it is by turning off gadgets when not in use, especially refrigerators.
Turning of the bulbs during the day since the place would be bright enough for everyone to see. Another way is to use a light meter. Recently prepared meter has been brought, it can be turned off if there is nothing to use light for and turn on when there need and maybe left for the nights. This will help reduce the cost of electricity.
Thanks you so much 