Well this last week has been most odd.

No posting by either of us because its been busy busy and we've been on the road.

But back to Port Harcourt and yesterday there was about 18 hours light.

18 hours - that's constant light by Nigerian standards.


And it seems its not just our neighbourhood.

Of course, right now we're on sunlight power and this laptop has 7 is battery life remaining but this is a really interesting development. Also, its not really supposed to be possible.

So where is all this light coming from ?


Who knows but e're enjoying it for now
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Today's blog posting is NEPA powered.

Not a common occurrence but it seems that NEPA are showing some respect for our weekend.

The washing machine is rumbling, the DVD player is doing soulful music, the ironing board is humming and the cats are chasing chickens (that's not quite true- our useless cats are scared of chickens).

NEPA has been pretty useless over the last month but so far (apart from exploding inverters) its been a pretty good week. However our idea of a "good week" has been adjusted - to a point where 3 or 4 hours light from 1am is considered 'a good week'. Indeed.

Over the last month 113 units of electricity - not so bad when compared to the 148 units over 5 months that provoked us to start this blog but its still pretty abysmal.

Everyone seems to be making predictions and bets on the world cup - anyone care to bet if we'll be seeing the game on NEPA powered tv ??

Anyway its weekend so enough of NEPA.

If you want to see something pretty check this out

Have a great weekend !!
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I have killed it

After about three years or so, i have made the mistake everyone avoids to make with their inverters. I crossed the negative and positive wires and puff goes my old faithful inverter. Now I am stock with Dark Age NEPA and my Generator. Pity Mr Okada is not at home to see this,  did not burn down the house though; thank God.

All the madness happened because yours truly did not give us power for 6 days and finally surfaced yesterday for about 2hours and 40seconds this money. Crazy crazy people

Mrs Okada

We have seen the light...

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Well sort of.

Its Sunday morning and at least one of the Okadas has online access (and light) while the other is on solar power "au naturale".

While we've resumed on our batteries others have been marching forward.

Here's what you can do to replace your kerosene lantern nowdays and the latest cheapest version (going for under $10 on a continent near you) is here and winning international prizes for innovation.

By the way, if you thought Nigeria can't produce that kind of thing then check this out

(their website is here)

So while President Goodluck's 9 month plan for NEPA rumbles along our 9 month plan is to get as far off the grid as we can.

Solar lanterns comin up (BTW anyone flying back from India or USA anytime soon ?)
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Dark Ages again

Here we go again.

There has been no power from NEPA for the past 4 days; not a wink. Usually they give power prior to disconnection and a few days after. I heard that they were around to do their disconnection of payment defaulters. I had earlier made my calculation from my meter log and paid what was due me and not what NEPA thinks I should pay. So I'm ok, as my wires are still intact.

But then, whats the difference between those disconnected and those not? We are all in darknes and different sizes and sounds of generators, driving me crazy.

I shall resume my battle with them again this weekend; I heard there is a new service centre closer to us now so I can go lay my complaints of the lack of power and "high powered bills". This will be an introduction to the new service centre. :( I dont think they will love me.

Mrs Okada

A woman scorned...

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Is a scary thing.

Mr President, you're a married man and word has it that Mrs Jonathan is no pushover.

So you can probably imagine the ire of 30 million madams who are expecting better light.

And now you've got a facebook page

(Actually I think you may have had one for a while but one local newspaper drew our eye in your direction)

Your excellency, this is damn risky.

I recommend that you work on the communications and delivery of this whole light thing. Otehrwise your "wall" might start to look like graffiti central.

By the way does this mean we are too old school with our little blog ?

Should we get a facebook page as well ?

Do we tweet when NEPA does its thing ?

Gawd. The dilemmas of modern life.
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No light as usual

Here we go again  crazy people do not give electricity.

My dear husband called me this morning to find out what NEPA situation is since he left and my answer was as an undiscribable sound which I believe only one man can interpret and he got it right.

No NEPA oooooooooooooo

I am really pissed, have to go and pay them a visit this weekend.

Mrs Okada

Day off

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Well its Sunday and I think there is at least one big book prescribing a day off.

So instead of NEPA there will be enlightening reading and broadening of the mind.

Like this

And then if you're prone to worrying you should read this .

You might think that one is bad news. But think about it. All that disruption to stuff that Nigeria does not really have. We'll be fine !! In fact we should be selling our services to the world now !!!

"How to cope without all the crap you take for granted"....

Finally a market niche that suits our situation.

Alright thats it for today.

Got to go and pack the bags for the squatter.

I am sending him to Calabar (apparently they've told the world there are 20,000 militants in the Niger Delta that need retraining and I'm damned if we're going to miss out entirely).

P.S.    GO GHANA  !!!  (see what you can do with a tight young side that has been consistently developed)
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Missing in Action (MIA)

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Yes, a little guilt again over not posting for a few days.

Mr Okada is on the road.

Madam Okada reports that NEPA is also seemingly MIA.

She's not seen evidence of them in 3 days (but the neighbours and the squatter mention brief daytime appearances).

A friendly face in Abuja has suggested that we all think of NEPA the wrong way.

Its not a power supplier - we mostly get our electricity from elsewhere and feel lucky when there is 'light'.

In fact, NEPA is a  rickety standby generator that kicks into action at  unpredictable times and
then slips back into its slumber.

Its a handy image - and it conjures up ideas of looking elsewhere for solutions to the power failures in the land.

NEPA workers beware- here lies the path of Nitel.

If you are so determined not to change your ways (and I admit many of your problems stem from your money stealing political masters) then your company will die a silent and unlamented death.

At this stage one could go into a long rant about how a company with a license to print money (they had the national network, an undersea fibre optic cable and a mobile phone license) can turn all that opportunity into a complete and utter flop.

NEPA and Nitel might at least go in the Guinness Book of Records  as truly world class under-performers.

But then if i wrote on that I would be late for work

Enjoy the weekend
(and the football without the spectacular  underperformers on the field - Bye bye France, Italy,  and the Super Eagles)
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Our battery is back !!

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For a long time now we've had some gear for defeating NEPA when we can.

It started as a little 1kva Inverter (about N25,000 at the time) and a truck battery and has since evolved after a little experimentation.

Now we have a either a 150or 200  amp battery, a cool little gadget for fast charging batteries, the inverter, and a little switch over that allows us to just run fans, lights and tv (thus avoiding accidentally overloading the little inverter).

However for a little while we've had batteries that gave some trouble and simply refused to last as long as they should (plus the squatter means 2 fans instead of 1 and at this level every amp counts).

At the weekend we tried a new brand - Altas 150amp sealed truck battery N28k at your nearest P.H store- and so far its done phenomenally well.

So we've had a very good weekend and just a few hours of NEPA but we might be able to go back to switching off the generator for at least half the night or more.

Happy indeed.

Its hard to put a price on the hours of silence and peace that come with the restoration of our battery game but its certainly a lot more than N28k per year (or even every 6 months if the battery doesn't last so long), not to speak of the cash savings.

Sunday 20 June results

Okada householders 1   NEPA/PHCN 0
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By way, those of you with concerns about power at a more academic level should also read this (apologies in advance that you'll need to log into the site but its worth it)
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Our NEPA meter is stalled !

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OK, so our NEPA meter is stalled because there has been no light for 2 days.

The honeymoon is over

(actually it was not so much a honeymoon as a cheap affair where our expectations were raised)

This also seems to be a variation on the standard NEPA script.

Somewhere there is a manual that says:

"Give them light for a couple of days. Distribute bills. Wait small.
Do lots of disconnections (you can charge N2,000 for reconnection). Give lots of light for a couple of days
to rub in your pay up message. Resume usual non-service"

They seem to have skipped straight to the last stage.

A little clip from Nigeria's most posh newspaper gives the idea

We don relax (too much)

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So yesterday for the first time in ages.....

We ran out of water in the big ol' tank beside the house.

Fuel ran out for the generator.

Generator went off last night (the squatter relaxed on his duty of checking the oil).

Why, you ask ?

We got comfortable with the routine of a few more hours of NEPA each day and then they changed their pattern on Monday to keep us on our toes (we didn't adjust fast enough).

Presently we seem to be on new regime of about 3 hours per day - from 3am to 6am, if at all.

Bad timing guys.

Mrs Okada is going to be grumpy when she gets to your office.
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The war has begun

They have started again. My earlier palavar with NEPA is obviously not over, now the war has resumed. I spoke with my contact Person in the Nepa office to complain about their outrageous bill, he simple adviced me to calculate my bill and pay what I think is due me.

I think he also mentioned that a new service centre has been opened not so far from us, that I can lay my complaints there.

I have an appointment to see my contact person on Friday.
These people  are really strange, they cannot do a simple mathematics of calculating bills or rectifying one for that matter.

I shall keep you informed of my progress with them

Mrs Okada

Your NEPA bill don come o

Finally - after many months of absence - a NEPA bill for the month of June.

Its for 13,000 Naira

Our last bill was in January.

What has happened to the intervening months ?

Its a mystery.

Less of a mystery is the 13k - almost all of it is arrears.

The same arrears Mrs Okada spent 2 days battling NEPA offices over in January before they agreed to rectify.

Quote for the day from Mrs O (as she departs for work)

"I am going to war!"

(Bonus item- NEPA accidentally delivered a neighbour's bill to us - N81,000. Seems they may have some issues also)

Who stole my post ?

I wrote a perfectly nice post about the conclusion of our weekend (continued 20 hours per day light) and it seemed to go through.

And then it seems the internet ate it.

I blame Obama (everyone is doing that right now)

NEPA and the World Cup

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Firstly apologies again for the breaks in transmission.

It turns out that this daily blog game can be quite a challenge when life gets busy.

Right now there is no excuse - the Okadas are in outer Lagos and enjoying a weekend away.

(bits of Lagos are looking decidedly better by the way with greenery, walkways, and tidiness that is a pretty big contrast to some years past. Not all of it but enough to impress).

So this Lagos visit brings two things to mind.

The general strangeness of NEPA distribution - here we are almost in the village and getting about 18 hours of light per day. Its been great, but how come ?

We've never quite figured why our neighbourhood slipped from a healthy 12 hours of electricity per day to our miserly (sometimes) one hour per day, and now seems to be on a modest rebound.

While we're on the rebound our co-workers mostly do not seem to be quite so exuberant.

But the peace and quiet of an almost rural estate with breeze, no generator noise, ahhhh bliss.

The other random thought is NEPA and football - in years past there used to be stories of attacks on NEPA offices when the electricity went off.

Not heard mention of this in years.

I think things have passed the stage where people expect NEPA to work. This little column gives an insight to the strange level of collapse that is the byword for state run services. Its a long road back when things get this bad but at least people are talking about it.

To close - a wee thank you to Mr President.

Thank you sir for appointing Mr Jega and some others to INEC. We don't know the man but he comes with a credible reputation which is more than you can say for his predecessor.

 Its only a start, but its nice to know that we might be able to vote you in or out of office based on your performance. (Suggest you keep working on this light problem though if you want our vote o!)

Sorry o - we don thief your light !!

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Alright so things are a bit more back to mormal.

Either the engineer at the NEPA control room has regained consciousness (see yesterday's post) or they've dragged him away and replaced him with someone "in between".

Of course there was absolutely no light last night when we hosted a visitor in from Abuja and only a couple of hours early this evening but still better than our pathetic normal "service".


Careful research suggests that our light might be borrowed from elsewhere - our regular taxi driver has been giving only one answer to the question of NEPA in his area the last few days 

"Its terrible, nothing nothing......"

And the same from our other correspondent in the highly scientific survey of 2 persons

On a more definite note some kudos to the World Bank and the Federal Government for deciding that its time to put at least some real money into renewables like solar, wind, biomass etc etc.

Its $200m - thats pretty micro in comparison to the billions and billions spent on regular power but its still a really big leap in support for renewables whose previous funding was pretty tiny.

We hereby volunteer our services as a pilot for urban solar pilot projects. We promise to be good, transparent, and wise users (and to sell our NEPA meter to the highest bidder). Governor Amaechi and relevant international agencies take note.
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Someone Call An Ambulance !!

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Yes, we're worried.

We know that electricity for our area is run from a control room that is pretty manual (1970s era) and requires someone to switch our little part of town on to receive electricity.

And in recent times they seem to intermittently remember us for about an hour a day.

Well at the weekend we had light for most of an 18 hour stretch.

We're wondering if the engineer in the control room has had a dreadful accident and is unable to switch us off. Images of his body collapsed over the control panel (occasional twitches would explain our brief losses of power)are floating through our minds.

It was so bizarre that none of us bothered to put our glorious little washing machine to work because we were pretty much convinced for all of Sunday morning the electricity would go off at any moment.

However now washing, ironing, tea and toast are all done to beyond our heart's content.

[In case you are wondering if this is early evidence of  Presidentially inspired improvement we are awaiting further evidence. Careful consultation with our driver and neighbour over the fence -unbelievably in another zone- reveals they have been having a dreadful "no light" weekend. Are we suddenly special ?]

Yesterday, when we were done with consuming unusual amounts of electricity we went out to a rare cultural moment when this young author was doing a book reading in a posh hotel in town.

Book readings may sound like dull affairs to the uninititated but this was great fun - a rolling discussion and debate of 419 (email scammers), corruption, and what people do in desperate circumstances- all perfectly reasonable seeing as her novel was a comedy based around a young man falling into very bad ways.

Buy her book !! - Mr and Mrs Okada will buy you a beer/wine/beverage if you're disappointed (and we don't expect to be shelling out too often)

Customer of little faith

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Well madam's crossed fingers worked and Mr Okada is a man of undue pessimism.

We got about 3 hours of electricity last night.

That's three times this week there has been electricity in the evening (for a while)

Can't remember the last time that happened.

So we're watching dodgy (pirated) DVDs and reading books from this lot. We can particularly recommend "Imagine this" by Sade Adeniran

Today is much more normal - strictly natural solar lighting- so lets see what the next week brings.
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Uncross the fingers

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I don't think Madam is too lucky today.

There was light for about 90 minutes this afternoon and one does not usually expect to see a return visit from our NEPA friends.

Tis' rainy season at last (serious droughts in the north)so its a little bit cooler for those that don't want to run their generator all night.

We've not had a NEPA bill since January.

Have they given up on us ?

Mr Okada

COOOOOOOOOL ROOM

I'm here again today to let you know how happy I was yesterday night, I bedroom was really coooooooool;but you can be sure there was no NEPA when I got back home just an evidence that they were there at some point.

I suspect this last few days powder might be because they want to come and disconnect or bring bills which have been absent in the last 4 months.

Keeping my fingers crossed for tonight.

Mrs Okada

2 sets of wash

Aha, there was about 3 hours of electricity from NEPA last night after a few days of dark ages. Madam was happy because she was able to do two sets of wash; which is a novelty nowadays. There was also a radio show this morning, the Finance Executive was asked why people receive estimated bills. His answer was that all over the world estimated bills are given and then they are rectified when meter is read. True; but do they ever come to read the meter? Even when I take my log they still do not rectify the billing.

Oh! they did not bring May bill again, so I will not know if my complaint has been rectified. Keeping my fingers crossed that said bill will arrive today.

Know HOPE (maybe)

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Its been a week since the last post and am feeling that we've been slacking from the original idea of a short post daily.

However a new month and new resolutions (plus some provocations)

First up, a friend skypes over this article from Punch

The key bits:
Residents and companies in Lagos and Abuja are soon to enjoy 16 and 24 hours power supply, according to a proposal by the Presidential Action Committee on Power.

Also to have 16-hour minimum electricity like Lagos are cities with what the committee called “stranded generation capacities.” The cities are Kano, Kaduna, Ibadan, Onitsha and Nnewi. The cities were chose because they are regional industrial and commercial hubs.

Port Harcourt, Rivers State; Aba, Abia State; Uyo, Akwa Ibom State are grouped by the committee alongside Abuja for 24-hour uninterrupted power supply

Its this kind of nonsense - both from the committee and unquestioning reporting - that gets the power sector an even worse name than it deserves.

So Port Harcourt's power supply is going to jump from its present patchy coverage to 24 uninterrupted supply soon ????

In your dreams.
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Meanwhile last week (covered both weekends) was a slightly improved effort by our shockingly low standards - 16 units of electricity. Just past 100 Naira's worth. Or over 10 days, there is 16 hours of running 1,000watts worth of stuff.

We haven't had more than 16 hours of electricity in that period so that also gives some idea of our consumption when we do get power.

Hopefully we'll be posting more regularly from here - Mrs Okada has said she'll be signing in a bit as well.
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Is there a bright side to this ?

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5 Units of electricity in the past week.

If this were an energy saving or energy efficiency blog we'd be rockstars !!

Later on, I think Mr and Mrs Okada will begin to work harder on minimizing our electricity consumption (yes we do have energy efficient light bulbs and some other gizmos).

But for now we're worried that things are drifting along at the level referred to in our May 16th posting that for the sensibilities of our readers will be referred to as U.C.(and no it is not 'uber cool)

We also know its probably treasonable to call for the President's head on a spike so we don't want to be doing that in a few months time !!

5 units of electricity a week is well below U.C. !!

In fact over a 3 month period its about 60 units

For those of you contemplating a transfer to the tropics your quarterly electricity bill will be $3.40. Meanwhile the generator bill will probably be about $400 for the same period if you'd like just lights, fans and fridge through the night
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If you're wondering - yes we did visit a solar shop on Saturday.

Some signs of encouragement - they do have all the necessary gear (panels, inverters, batteries, charge controllers) and they've been doing a steady stream
of business for companies to install in remote places.

However they failed Mr Okada's first test

Mr Okada: So have you installed anything at home ?

Manager: Nope

Mr O: Why not ?

Manager: Too expensive...

And in his defence its kinda true. The upfront costs are a pretty heavy hit. A little system that will do lights, fans, tv (not fridge or AC) might be possible for N400,000 to N700,000 depending on how you set up. Thats $2,700 to $4,700 range.

With generator bills of $1,600 or more per year you can see how this could pay for itself in a very reasonable time, but this is not a place where finance over time, cheap loans, etc etc are an easy find.

The maths is pretty clear.

It makes sense for us to get off this grid but there'll have to be a bit of serious saving of cash first


To close today's post.......

A couple of little pieces of solar inspiration and optimism from other places with a power crisis

[while typing today's post NEPA electricity has come on and off 4 times and delivered a spectacular total of about 10 minutes of electricity ]

Solar shopping

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The Okadas are going to take a look at solar panels today.

Last time we checked on this kind of thing in Port Harcourt they were over-priced and the vendors were a bit hopeless on knowing what they're selling.

Lets see if things have improved.

One way or another we're stepping off the the merry go round of NEPA, generators, fuel, noise, mechanics, voltage stabilisers, surge protectors and all manner of power survival contraptions.

We're going green.

Then we'll convert the neighborhood.

Then Port Harcourt !

Then all of Nigeria !!!

Take that money grubbing generator selling mafia !!!!

Suck on that NEPA !!!!!

[Yes the Okadas are moody today]
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Price shock - 28 % power price increase (!!!)

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Well we've been offline for a few days.

Its been a busy week for Mr and Mrs Okada.

At one level you've not missed much.

Another 30 minutes of electricity here, another 20 there, and quite a bit of blackout.

But then the shocker - the price of our power is going up big time !

A 28% increase of power costs - from 6.6 Naira per unit/kwh to 8.5 per kwh

We're shocked

Have they not heard we're all in a global recession ??

Mrs Okada was shocked.

She whipped out the calculator to recalculate the monthly budget.

Using last week as a guide we've about 130 Naira to shell out per week then we'll be forking out N166.4 per week, or in other words an extra 36 Naira per week

Hmmmmm....

Maybe we'll survive after all.

NEPA bills don't cost too much if they're not delivering electricity.

Dear Mr President, we're not seeing so much electricity since you left town. Please keep working on this power thing.

PS- do remember that you promised us electoral reform when you finally decide on a new INEC Chairman. No shaking on this one please !!!
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We're Riiiich !!!!

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Or at least that's what we thought when a helpful reader sent us this headline

PHCN (that's NEPA's new name) TO REFUND CUSTOMERS OVER POOR SERVICE

Top class headline

We've had poor service and we'd certainly take a refund

But sadly, reading the article here reveals that they are only interested in refunding you if they're ripped you off (overcharged) already.

I suppose that is progress on the attitude they've taken in the recent past (Mrs Okada might post soon on that one)

So no champagne for Mr and Mrs Okada

Nor it seems much electricity - zero hours Sunday and about 30 minutes so far today

Forget the cost, solar panels are looking very attractive right now.
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Yah!!!! We have a baseline !!! (and its not very big)

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So after 10 days, a Presidential visit, and a couple of surprisingly good days of electricity (you can see how much our standards have been lowered) ....

We have a baseline.

Its not very good.

We've decided it'll be the first of several measures and we're tweaking things a little.

We'll call this one ultra crap

Mr and Mrs Okada hereby promise that if NEPA regularly provide more electricity than ultra crap, then we will NOT call for the President's head on a spike

How much you might ask ?

Well in 10 days we've clocked 20 units of electricity.

That's 132 Naira worth of electricity or 13.2 Naira per day

The only thing you can buy in the shops for 13 Naira are those little sweets they sell to children (even a small pack of chewing gum is 25 Naira !)

So we're setting ultra crap at a week rather than 10 days.

If we're not seeing 20 units of electricity per week we're shopping for President IBB T Shirts (please God may no-one keep us to this). We'll be joining the militants in the creeks. Fire and brimstone time......

But hang on.

20 units is a start.

And President Goodluck has about 54 weeks to go.

C'mon Your Excellency !!

Make Mr and Mrs Okada proud !!
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Toast

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Enjoying Toast and tea....

Enjoying it a lot !

A toaster is yet another watt hungry monster that we've designated as best left for when there is NEPA.

This morning we're enjoying an air conditioned start to the weekend, toast, and there is a whole lot of washing and ironing going on (the young squatter is hard at work).

BTW - toast with fresh avacado, tomato, a little salt and pepper is highly recommended.

The Mr & Mrs Okada research centre do not have the resources to figure out if this binge of electricity supply is because His Excellency President Goodluck Jonathan is in town, or is it NEPA in one of their funny moods.

President Goodluck commissioned an extension to the Trans Amadi power station yesterday (its about the 3rd or 4th time various bits of it have been commissioned). Both he and the State Governor were honest enough to admit the damn thing is not delivering most of its electricity because of grid and connection issues.

Now that is not too smart.

Building more power stations is only a small piece of the puzzle.

If any of you are ready to plunge into the complexities of power management then this write up by one of This Day's smart columnists will give you a taste of the arcane but very important stuff (and that's before you get into the engineering challenges of building a better grid etc etc etc)

This editorial gives a taste of the corruption and insanely poor administration that has to be unraveled at the same time.

Important Memo to the President - Sir, you've got your work cut out if you are to deliver more light into the lives of the Okada family by May next year !

As much as we're enjoying Mr President's visit we think its time for him to head back to Presidential HQ before he forces us to choose between electricity and traffic.

The traffic !!

Mrs Okada was home in a mere 2 hours 30 minutes yesterday as she wove her way past closed roads, traffic jams, and enough AK47 wielding security to mount a small war.

One more day of sirens and madness to go....

Please can the last dignitary to leave the state NOT switch off the lights
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Asleep at the wheel

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That's what we assume has happened anytime we get more than 3 or 4 hours of electricity. The dude at the NEPA control station has fallen asleep and forgotten to cut us off.

Well today it has happened big time.

For the first time ever on this blog I'm writing on a laptop that is chugging along on NEPA's generous allocation of electricity.

11pm to 6am - that's 7 hours of electricity. More than we've had in an entire week.

Mrs Okada is enjoying a rare thoroughly air conditioned snooze.

The neighbourhood is quiet enough to hear the frogs, crickets, and a few birds starting on dawn chorus. [the constant drumming of generators from closely packed houses is one of several unpleasant side effects from the lack of electricity]

Maybe they were saving it up for the arrival of the President.

Or maybe someone will soon wake up in the control room.
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Zero

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Yesterday was not such a good day for electricity.

Zero.

Nada

Zilch

Our faithful generator has also been getting a bit fed up ..

So it decided to go on strike as well.

(The cap above the spark plug shook itself right off and gave the appearance of being quite kaput)

Cue our very good generator mechanic who came along in no time and just 800 Naira for parts later plus labour we’re back in business (unlike NEPA).

President Goodluck arrives in Port Harcourt today to commission a power station (its been commissioned a couple of times already but that’s another story)

I don’t know if they’re saving up our electricity for his visit but Mr & Mrs Okada are not impressed. However we’ll give NEPA and His Excellency a chance. If there’s electricity from NEPA we’ve resolved that we’ll watch his speeches on TV.

Somehow I don't think we'll be watching much tv
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One hour of electricity

What does one do with one hour of electricity ?

Not a lot you might think.

But there are a few things where even one hour makes a difference.

The key issue is those devices that require more WATTS than your generator can comfortably carry.

First priority is PUMP WATER from your/shared borehole.

Funnily enough, one can never get enough of water... and pumping regularly using a generator (unless its a big diesel b**T*rd) can lead to early generator death

Second priority is IRON CLOTHES
 Another watt hungry activity but not one that you will be too enthused about if your 1 hour of electricity comes at 4am.

Third priority is the  WASHING MACHINE (yep we're middle class enough to have one) but here you have to brace for swearing and cursing of NEPA when they switch off with you part way through the cycle.

Fourth priority is SWITCH on EVERYTHING that might increase comfort or fun. (you might have spotted a problem here for NEPA managers ). You're only going to have electricity for an hour so you better enjoy it.

Step five is as per washing machine - brace for some swearing and switching off all round the house.

We didn't need step 1 to 4 yesterday -  there was light from NEPA about 30 minutes but we were both at work.


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Power Geeks Corner
The electricity went off at the Murtala M International Airport in Lagos the other day.
For about 3 hours.
Was not actually NEPA's fault (directly) because this time it seems to have been a fried cable between the airports generators and the airport buildings.
Here are a few facts from officials tho- the int airport has 6  generators (not all functional).
The airport reportedly gets 136,000 litres of diesel delivered every month.

Thats about $100,000  every damn month.

Expensive stuff this lack of power.
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148 Units

That's how many units of  (NEPA provided) electricity we've consumed between  7th January and 5th May.

148 Units ( @ 6 Naira each) =  That's 888 Naira worth in 4 months !!!!

[If you're wondering 888 Naira is $5.92 or  $1.48 per month ]

You can probably guess we're not pleased.

In our case, President Goodluck Jonathan GCON [all praise to God etc etc] has a very low baseline for making an improvement in our electric lives.


The President was due to visit here last week (but cancelled obviously). When he reschedules could someone please tell him to bring some spare candles just in case.
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Mrs Okada goes to the NEPA Office

Madam Okada went to the NEPA office yesterday as requested.
She actually sat down with a very nice gentleman who was quite shocked by our meagre 1 hour per day average for electricity (its true that we seem to be at the worse end of the scale).

Peace was restored - we will not be disconnected from our not very reliable supply.

It turns out that no-one can find our April bill, not to speak of bills for February or March (here's a hint on an issue for NEPA to resolve when they complain no one pays their bills).

However its now promised that all will be reconciled when our May bill comes out.

Electricity on Sunday:  About 40 minutes   (Madam and our young squatter argue it was less !)
Supply on Monday:                30 minutes

 

A visit by NEPA

So NEPA's guys came around to our neighbourhood on Friday.

Seems they wanted to disconnect people who hadn't paid them in a while.

Nothing too unusual there, except that they had not brought a bill to our area
since January.

Now Madam Okada has gone to great lengths to end nonsense with NEPA but she was at work.

As she has a history of getting quite put out when messed around by NEPA officials I decided to do my bit for world peace. I put her on the the phone with the bright young man with the pliers.

He didn't seem to get a lot of space in the conversation but at least a few "Madam you didn't need to take it that far........ Come to the office on Monday with your documents" later and he seemed very happy to pack away his ladder and go.

We got about 40 minutes of electricity on Saturday evening so it must have been worth all the drama