Some Masaka, Nasarawa State residents have lamented the lack of power supply to the area on Monday while also lamenting the cost of using a generator.

The residents, who expressed their pain in separate interviews with reporters, described their agony as unbearable.

They complained that they had lived in darkness for over three months.

Lovina Elisha, a housewife, expressed unhappiness over the situation while calling for immediate intervention from relevant authorities.

She said the power outage had given merchants using alternative electricity supplies the leverage to extort those patronising them for power-related services.

Ms Elisha said: “In the absence of electricity, I take my phone to charging centres, and they charge as much as N200 because they use fuel in their generating sets, which even costs more.”

Similarly, another resident, Ebuka James, said the situation has rendered some electrical appliances useless in several households and caused the loss of a good amount of food.

He said most people could no longer afford to store perishable goods in fridges or freezers because of the inconsistent power supply.

Timothy Dara, another resident who operates a phone charging centre, said the situation was doing more harm than good to his business.

He said business booms more when electricity is inconsistent and fuel is affordable for those with generating sets to alternate.

“At first, with the inconsistent power supply, people patronised me because I charged as low as N50, but now, because of the hike in fuel price, I had no option but to increase my charges.

“Unfortunately, I don’t get customers again because I charge as high as N200 per phone,” he said.

Rowland Peter, an official of the electricity company in the Kuchikau area of the state, said the power outage was due to a technical fault in the power feeder serving the area.

He said, “Our engineers are currently working hard to restore power there. We plead for more patience from the people as all hands are on deck to get everything back to normal.”

(NAN)