How Discos Can Optimize Their Operations

In the year 2022, our power transformer “blew up” in May. It took us five months before the power supply returned. The following year, the same happened within the same month. This time, it took seven months before power was restored. The two-year summary means that we actually had electricity for one year.

When the power supply went out in 2023, we sent a delegation to the Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JED) office. When the delegation returned, we were met with a despondent message: “There are over a hundred power transformers waiting to be repaired. Our transformer was the 97th in line.” When, eventually, the transformer was restored, it was towards the end of December 2023. 

We are never really happy even whenever there is a power supply. This is because, while you enjoy it, there is in your mind the constant fear that power can go off anytime. Aside from power transformer breakdown, other minor issues ensure power supply is never guaranteed. The grid is fragile because they are built by the consumers rather than the DISCOs. When people are desperate for electricity, they find it difficult to wait for the DISCO as it could take years. Sometimes, it never comes. When eventually it comes, it is from a government, an NGO or an individual. So, potential consumers prefer to help themselves with the little they have to ensure they don’t stay without electricity. The cables are as cheap as their financial muscle can afford. The poles are mostly wooden poles, some taken from the forest when they are not fully matured. Other consumers simply buy roofing wood and use them as electric poles. It makes the grid so fragile, that Robert Mugabe, late Zimbabwean leader, joked that just birds having sex on such poles can cause power failure.  

So, why are the power transformers always failing? Most power transformers are often overloaded. That is, they serve more than their capacities warrant.  

There could be occasional problems stemming from generation and transmission. Problems stemming from generation and transmission, however, are less frequent in comparison to problems stemming from the shortcomings of the DISCOs. 

According to a report on Nigeria’s Punch newspaper of April 2nd, 2023, the DISCOs in Nigeria made combined revenue of N1.1 trillion and N831 billion in 2022 and 2023 respectively. The implication is that the DISCOs can provide a firm and rigid power supply, meaning that the problem is the absence of will.

 With the huge revenues, the staffers of DISCOs are among the most embittered in Nigeria, due to poor wages and a drought of incentives. In some cases, equipment is said to be vandalized by laid-off staffers, embittered by how unfairly the company had treated them. 

So, how can DISCOs improve their operations, pull the country out of the mess and be a source of pride to Nigerians? Where there is a will, there will always be a way. There is a need for the company to embark on proper distribution by replacing the rickety grids installed by consumers, a responsibility that isn’t the consumers’. Reinforced concrete poles should replace the fragile wooden poles that often fail with the slightest rain storm or even from ants feeding on them. This is in addition to the use of the most efficient cables. 

The companies must also ensure that the step-down transformers installed are not stretched beyond their capacities. This is where the bulk of the challenge lies. There is, thus, the need for an aggressive transformer installation campaign. 

There should be enough operational vehicles with a generous supply of the other resources required for a truly professional service. 

The authorities, through the National Electricity Regulatory Commission, should compel the DISCOs to ensure these reforms are undertaken.