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