The Coalition for Affordable and Regular Electricity (CARE) has urged the federal and state governments to intervene in the power sector, as consumers continued to be exploited twelve years after privatisation.

CARE national coordinator, Chinedu Bosah, made the urge in an interview with journalists on Sunday in Lagos.

Mr Bosah, reviewing the activities of the sector for the year, said the power sector reforms still require decisive government-led corrective action to protect electricity consumers.

He called for State Electricity Regulatory Commissions to establish and enforce effective consumer protection frameworks with immediate effect, saying, “this is a core statutory responsibility that has largely been neglected.”

According to him, experience over the last 12 years has shown that generation and distribution companies are unable or unwilling to invest adequately to provide reliable and value-for-money electricity.

“It has become obvious that the GENCOs and DISCOs cannot attract the level of investment needed to sustainably improve power supply,” Mr Bosah said.

He also admitted some intervention by the government through loans and public financing; the impacts remain limited, he said, due to corruption and mismanagement.

“Government investments have only scratched the surface. Even those funds could not go far enough because of massive corruption and looting by top officials,” he added.

He urged the government to pursue massive public investment in the sector with a transparent democratic management framework that involved electricity workers and consumers.

Mr Bosah said this would require an abysmal review of the power privatisation model, noting a similar deregulation policy in the oil and gas sector.

He accused the distribution companies of deliberately frustrating the provision of prepaid meters to consumers, insisting that metering remains a statutory obligation of DISCOs.

“DISCOs have largely refused to meter customers unless consumers are forced to pay exorbitant fees or government intervention with public funds,” he said.

He said progress under the NMMP was mostly from government funding.

At this rate, he warned, it could take another ten years to meter all customers.

Mr Bosah also questioned the sustainability of the NMMP, which targets 1.1 million meters in its first phase.

“What happens when the programme ends, especially if funding cannot be sustained?” he asked.

He highlighted the poor state of distribution infrastructure, saying DISCOs favour revenue collection over network upgrades.

“Most distribution facilities are obsolete and in terrible condition, making even minimal electricity delivery difficult,” the national coordinator said.

On the tariff issue, Mr Bosah called on regulators to look into the CRT regime due to its nature, which is not transparent and independently verified.

He cited the decision of the Enugu State Electricity Regulatory Commission to immediately reduce Band A tariff from N209 to N160 per kilowatt-hour in July 2025, as evidence of long-standing consumer exploitation.

“That decision laid bare how unjustified excessive tariffs are charged to the consumers all over the country,” he said.

He berated other state regulators for their failure to act similarly and blamed the Lagos State Electricity Regulatory Commission for prioritising licensing over consumer protection.

Mr Bosah also cautioned that Nigeria’s power challenges extend beyond transmission, stating that distribution is the system’s weakest link.

“Grid collapse is a system-wide failure. It can happen at generation, transmission or distribution levels, and distribution is currently our biggest headache,” he said.

Mr Bosah noted that one of the reasons for reduced transmission-level grid collapses in 2025 was the introduction of the Band A tariff, which had encouraged DISCOs to accept more load due to higher profit margins.

However, he said this had transferred failures to the distribution level, citing prolonged blackouts in several Band A communities in Aboru, Lagos State.

“The promise of 20 hours daily supply has become a mirage, while the electricity companies go on smiling to the bank,” Mr Bosah said.

He also urged the government to address gas pricing and pipeline challenges, accusing the deregulation of the oil and gas sector of unwittingly enabling private interests to impose prices beyond the reach of efficient power generation.

“In Nigeria, gas is priced almost at the same level as in developed economies despite the country’s status as a low-income nation,” Mr Bosah said.

He explained the situation as a scenario where private interests and political elites pass on the cost of inefficiencies to ordinary Nigerians.

“Consumers are paying the price, and government intervention is now unavoidable,” he added.

 (NAN)