Our national economy is full of so many dissatisfactions and one way to avoid being pissed off is by not reading every news headline or even listening to it. Trust me, there is how they will mention funds in billions and trillions and you will be mad at your radio set, you will feel like shattering it to pieces. When they just want to mention budgets and allocation, I just walk away from the radio or perhaps off it, over here we call it 'peace of mind'.
Some days anyway, I do stagger to give ears to the mismanagement and squanderings. Where they assumed they put the money to work remains desolate. Radio callers always flock in to counter they are all lies. It always like a war on radio with radio callers shouting back at the stations about how the government hasn't kept promises. It is always a funny but painful experience, just that many radio callers fail to understand that these radio stations' representatives are not the government; who cares, everyone is looking for where to pass down the pressure.
That said, the pressure is high so I chose to stay clear. Nevertheless, this comes at a cost, there is some news in the midst of the many dramas that are vital. How long will you stay on the frustrating headlines to get what you want? That's where the problem hangs. I just became a victim of this and it is going to cost me extra expenses to see business through on a daily basis. So what actually happened? This is concerning the electrical sector, something that is very vital to business. There has been a huge price hike and I mean huge.
source
We started business last year on an estimated bill until we choose to switch to prepaid meter. There was a need to overcome the monthly embarrassment by electrical officials who just showed up with a huge bill when the light supplied for the month was not worth it. That's the consequences of an estimated bill. This in the process was pilling up light debts for us. We finally opted for the prepaid meter last year and after six month or so, we were free from all debts and had light enough to do our dailies. I felt a huge relief considering how much was spent in entirety.
I felt it was all over until this January, we had enough units to sustain us from December till the new year. What I failed to understand was that a new light bill has been passed by the government which warrants the pursuit of having steady light at least in the advanced parts of the country. Am I against this? Absolutely not, this to me is a long awaited prayer being answered. As of last year, we were buying energy at around N60 per KWh(Kilowatt hour), this would give around 16Kwh per N1000.
source
The new bill passage which took effect this January has increased energy price to above N220 per KWh. It is more like dividing the former energy by four. Can you imagine this? Why not even keep it at half, why make energy this high for us. At first, I never knew what was going on until I had to make some research and I found the Pdf online that took time to explain all the bans and current charges in 2025. I felt I should have gotten to this news earlier enough, at least, I should have looked for a way to buy enough light for at least six months by last year.
This would have helped me a lot, knowing that I will have to adjust a lot of things in business to meet up within that six month while also looking at other options. One of my options currently is solar which is expensive to install at current economic rates. I missed a very vital news and I am facing the consequences. The cost of our daily energy usage is now 4x. How do I get this across to customers in a very short period of time? I have to consider how their feedback will be if I just raise service prices instantly.
There is a lot involved in doing business and staying up to date is one of those essentials. I am wondering how I missed out on this news entirely. Not even by a whisper did someone pass it down to me, it has given me sleepless nights I must say, I know what this turns to mean when punching the calculator. Just in one week I have seen our expenses increase all attributed to light bill increments.
To conclude, let me add, I have to sit up, I know it is always the duty of a business to cater for its expenses. Business of course will have to move on and profits must be realized. This is going to be one big test for me early this year. I never saw this one coming. There is need to restrategizing to make sure we don't run on monthly losses. This is where our customers too will have to show the needed understanding.
Posted Using INLEO