Dear Business Owner in Nigeria,
Are you aware that come April 1st, 2020, you’ll be paying a lot more for electricity than you presently do? If you aren’t, there’s been an electricity price increase in Nigeria. This is no “April Fool” Prank. It’s the sad reality.
In the tariff review clarification notice from the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), the Discos said the tariffs would change from April 2020. “The tariffs shall remain an equivalent as they presently are (i.e. 2015 levels) until April 1, 2020 when there will be an increment to cater for tariff shortfall”. This shortfalls or losses shall be gradually passed on to the buyer until this is fully completed by the end of 2021.
According to the PUNCH newspapers, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), has approved that an additional N8 to N14 per Kilowatt hour, will be added to the present tariff.
LET’S DO A QUICK MATH…
Let’s say you spend an average of N3 per Kwh, and you use, say 12,000 Kwh monthly. That’s 36,000 right? ( Still a lot but what can you do?). Now imagine that an extra N8 is added to the daily cost. That means you’ll pay N11 * 12,000. That’s N132,000 monthly! Wow!
Electricity Tariff Increase in Nigeria: How It Affects Your Business and what you can do about it
As a business in Nigeria, a constant struggle is trying to keep expenses to a minimum. With the unanticipated shoot in the cost of electricity, how are businesses being affected by the increasing cost of this unavoidable business expense?
HOW THIS AFFECTS YOU
- Increment in budget for power: Due to the tariff increase, Business owners will be forced to increase the amount budgeted for power. This might negatively affect the running cost of the business.
- High Running Cost of Buying Fuel: The increase of electricity tariff coupled with the low supply of electricity will lead to an increment of the daily consumption of Petroleum products by Business owners.
- Risk of Folding up: For businesses heavily reliant on electricity, the risk of closure might rear its ugly head. This might in turn, spike up the rate of unemployment.What then can you do, to ensure that this unanticipated electricity tariff increase doesn’t run your business to the ground?Consider Other Energy Alternatives
One of such alternatives is having renewable forms of energy supplying energy consumption demand at a business premises.
Using the likes of biomass, wind and solar systems to deliver energy can help businesses save on energy bills, as well as help reduce their contribution to climate change.
Solar Inverters and Bio Fuel might be Cheaper alternatives to the cascading power supply, in the long run. So, why not make some research and see if it’s a viable option?
Installing a Prepaid Meter
If you don’t already use one, a pre-paid electricity meter in your work environment may be a way to help you better monitor your electricity spend and usage.
While this won’t cost you less in terms of cost per kilowatt hour, you’ll be more conscious of your electricity usage, as well as how much it is costing you per day.
Limiting your Electricity Consumption
Remember the Warren Buffet Quote: “If you buy things you do not need, soon you will have to sell things you need.”
So, you might need to take a step back and do some analysis. Discard or reduce use of equipment you might not be needing. This will help motivate you to lower your electricity usage and better budget your monthly electricity spend.
Know better solutions to dealing with this Electricity Increase Tariff in Nigeria? We’d love to hear from you! Please leave a comment below!
