By
Jeffrey Anyasi
Nigeria has perfected a strange arithmetic: The more you claim to give, the more you are allowed to take.
Thus were born Band A, Band B, Band C, not as an instrument of efficiency, but as a sophisticated taxonomy of exploitation.
In Nigeria, electricity consumers are no longer billed by what they consume, but by what DisCos claim they supply. The meter, supposedly the holy grail of fairness, the impartial judge of energy justice, has been demoted to a decorative accessory. In its place stands an arrogant assumption: *“We say we gave you more hours, therefore you must pay more.”*
THE LEGAL ALCHEMY THAT TURNED DARKNESS INTO GOLD
This daylight robbery did not emerge from a vacuum. It rests on the shoulders of law and regulation, chiefly:
The Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA) 2005, which empowers the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to set tariffs.
NERC’s Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO) framework, which introduced service-based tariffs; the legal womb from which Bands A, B, C, and their cousins were delivered…
Subsequent NERC orders and guidelines which permit differential pricing based on “minimum hours of supply.”
In theory, this sounds civilised. In practice, it is a tragic comedy.
There is nowhere in these regulations, is the electric meter crowned as the supreme determinant of billing. Instead, estimates, projections, and DisCo self-reporting are treated as gospel, an invitation to abuse wrapped in regulatory language.
THE ABSURDITY: PAYING FOR PROMISES, NOT POWER
Let us ask a question so simple it embarrasses policymakers:
If a customer is metered, why should tariff differ at all?
In sane societies, you pay for what passes through the meter, not for the supplier’s aspirations. Whether power flows for 2 hours or 20, the meter records it. Billing follows consumption—not band classification.
Yet in Nigeria, a consumer can be forcefully “upgraded” to Band A because a DisCo believes it is advantageous, for the DisCo, of course. Overnight, tariffs triple. Supply remains epileptic. Complaints are recycled. Appeals dissolve into silence.
This is not regulation.
This is economic ambush.
THE IRRATIONAL MIGRATION TO BAND A
Perhaps the cruelest joke is the unilateral movement of customers into Band A. No consent. No verifiable audit. No transparent data. Just a corporate shrug:
“You are now Band A.”
Band A has become less a service category and more a fiscal hunting ground, a place where DisCos go to harvest revenue, not deliver power.
If Band A truly guaranteed stable electricity, Nigerians would queue for it. Instead, it is imposed like a sentence, not chosen like a service.
HOW CIVILISED STATES DO IT
In countries, we still dare to call civilised:
United Kingdom: Consumers pay per kilowatt-hour consumed. Smart meters, not supplier moods, determine bills.
United States: Time-of-use pricing exists, but consumption remains king. No arbitrary “banding” without transparent, measurable delivery.
Germany, Canada, South Africa:
The principle is universal, measure first, bill after.
There is nowhere else electricity companies wake up and reclassify neighbourhoods simply because it “favours them” except in Nigeria.
WHY THESE LAWS MUST BE REVIEWED
Law that legalises injustice is not regulation, it is tyranny in formal wear.
The EPSRA and NERC’s tariff frameworks require urgent review to:
1. Reinstate the meter as the sole billing authority.
2. Outlaw forced migration between bands without consumer consent and independent verification.
3. Criminalise false supply claims by DisCos.
4. Align Nigerian electricity billing with global best practices.
5. Restore public trust in a sector already drenched in cynicism.
*A MESSAGE TO LAWMAKERS AND THE PRESIDENCY*
To the National Assembly, this is not a technical matter—it is a moral one.
To the presidency, this is not about subsidy removal—it is about citizen protection.
A nation cannot preach economic reform while permitting regulated extortion. You can not ask Nigerians to endure hardship while allowing DisCos to convert darkness into profit through regulatory loopholes.
Electricity is not a luxury.
Meters are not ornaments.
And Nigerians are not all fools.
Until these laws are reviewed, Band A, B, and C will remain what they truly are:
alphabetical labels for suffering, legally endorsed, regulator-approved, and heartbreakingly Nigerian.
JEFFREY ANYASI IS REACHABLE VIA: 08022364914, 08027887307,
[email protected]
