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ENUGU GOVT’S CARTELS HIKE ELECTRICITY TARIFF AS RESIDENTS GROAN UNDER HEAVY TAXATION
By Eddy Chukwujindu
When in October 2024 the Enugu State government announced its take -over of the electricity sector from the federal government, many residents received the news with mixed feelings. Their cold reaction was not unconnected with Governor Peter Mbah’s capitalist inclination and penchant for hiking taxes on every single commodity or service, his attention had been drawn to, since assumption of office. This propensity for expropriation of citizens by way of heavy taxation, has precipitated severe hardship, business closures and consequent escalation in prices of goods and services in Enugu state, something ignorantly attributed soly to the withdrawal of fuel subsidy by the Tinubu administration. For example, Enugu was the first state East of the Niger, to sell a crate of egg for N5000, 00. That was in March 2024 when it was still selling for N4,200 in the neighbouring states.
It’s an incontrovertible fact that Enugu today ranks among the three costliest states to live in or do business in the country , something constantly reflected in the customer price index of the National Bureau of statistics NBS. Taxes paid by business owners in Enugu since Mbah became governor, have not only quadrupled but also forced many to shut down or relocate to other states. Those managing to cope, easily pass the entire tax burden to consumers in the form of extortionate prices. Despite Mbah’s obsession with expropriatory taxation and from which so much revenues have been raked in( aside from fabulous monthly statutory allocation) , water scarcity remains a nightmare to residents of Enugu metropolis, a facility he promised to make available within 180 days in office.
Recently, the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NEREC) sanctioned 8 Discos for violating its capping order on estimated billing for unmetered customers. The Discos sanctioned and fined the sum of N628, 031,583 include; Abuja, Eko, Enugu, Ikeja, Jos, Kaduna, Kano and Yola. The question is; what actually is the gain, if any, derivable from the over hyped take- over of electricity services by the Enugu State government? Has there been any benefit compared to electricity services under the old order or a mere window dressing or fig leaf designed to cover some underhand dealings? This inquisition has become absolutely necessary because since the take-over of EEDC services by the Main Power Electricity Distribution Ltd, seven months ago, things have decidedly headed for the worse. But come to think of it, is there really any new electricity distribution company in Enugu except a change of name? This is because it’s no longer news that the EEDC owns Main Power Distribution company Ltd 100%, as one of its subsidiaries. Where then is the change? If Main Power is still EEDC in disguise, what’s the need for it’s floatation? Who’s behind the mask?
For whatever it’s worth, let’s halt further inquest in that regard and return to the gain or grains allegedly derivable from the so-called take-over of services of EEDC by the Enugu State government since October 2024. At the inception of the take- over, Enugu residents were assured that the move was intended to benefit them by way of improved services as well as protection from crazy and arbitrary billing characteristic of the EEDC. However, from what experts have been able to deduce, the only visible change in the entire arrangement is the birth of a new regulation body to dislodge the National Electricity Regulatory Commission NEREC . The new body known as the Enugu Electricity Regulatory Commission EERC is backed by a law passed by the House of Assembly and assented to by Governor Mbah. In effect, despite all the shenanigans, what has happened is only in the area of regulation and has nothing to do with electricity distribution.
It would be recalled that the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission NEREC came into being to regulate services offered by electricity service providers ( the Discos) by ensuring improved services as well as protection of consumers against exploitation among other responsibilities. The general feeling across the country is that NEREC has largely failed in discharging the duties assigned to it hence the persistent complaints from consumers about poor services, over-billing and non- provision of metres for hundreds of thousands not metred. This negative narrative might not have been entirely correct since service providers themselves( the Discos) see NEREC as a thorn in their flesh, accusing the establishment of always leaning unfairly against them and in favour of consumers without taking into account their operational constraints and challenges, in a harsh business environment, while adjudicating disputes brought before it.
The majority of Enugu residents who believed that NEREC had not lived up to expectation, quickly signed on the dotted line and welcomed the establishment of the Enugu State Electricity Regulatory Commission EERC. Seven months on, there’s now a general feeling of disillusionment and abandonment. A feeling that NEREC shouldn’t have been allowed to withdraw from Enugu since it’s a better Devil compared to the amorphous EERC whose sign of existence is not felt anywhere. No one even knows where its office is located, to be able to lodge a complaint as Ndi Enugu did with NEREC. Why has EERC not been heard in the face of unprecedented abuse of consumers rights by the Main Power Distribution Ltd since taking charge of affairs? Within the past seven months, electricity cost per unit has skyrocketed geometrically without any form of intervention from the EERC, a regulatory agency Enugu people were told was set up to succeed where NEREC failed. It’s now like falling from frying pan to the fire. An average middle class family in Enugu now spends a minimum of N5000 in electricity bills per week depending on which band he or she belongs. No affordable power, no affordable fuel, no water, no food, no money , no freedom, no justice, what kind of military government do we now have, passing off as a democracy? Where’s our so-called democracy pushing the citizens to?
It’s being alleged that EERC was never set up to render any service but to pretend to do. Analysts say; the agency is incapable of discharging the role assigned to it by law for one simple reason. Governor Peter Mbah being a unapologetic and chronic capitalist , only interested in generating revenue by whichever means possible, has little or no interest in issues of welfare of the ordinary people. This narrative can’t easily be faulted taking into account the shabby treatment Mbah has meted out to the poor since assuming office. There’s no better evidence than the capture of vegetable hawkers, barrow pushers and others, naturally exempt from tax, by the state’s inland revenue service’s official data base. Rumours are now rife that Mbah intends to chase away Keke or tricycle operators from major streets in the capital city. This is coming after he’d successfully drained and ripped them off with extortionate taxes since coming to power. Before Peter Mbah came on board, Keke or tricycles operators were paying less than N100 per day to the local government. Today Peter Mbah, having ursuped that function from the local government, collects a staggering sum of N750 or more from a single operator per day, yet unwilling to let them be. Is Peter Mbah really allergic to the poor?
Exploiting the governor’s capitalist propensity to the fullest, it’s being alleged that the Main Power Distribution Company Ltd now makes sure that it pays all its dues to the Enugu tax board and in exchange have been granted unchecked latitude to deal with electricity consumers as it pleases. The EERC under this situation has become totally unnerved and incapable of doing anything. As a consequence, Enugu electricity consumers are agitating that NEREC be made to return as they’ve become completely defenceless and left at the mercy of Peter Mbah’s cartels which put profit before people.
