Power outage: Small businesses turn to alternative energy
Many businesses that require electricity have turned to alternative energy following the abysmal performance of DisCos occasioned by endless national grid collapse. Unlike some big time businesses in manufacturing and marketing (oil and gas, cement, big rice mills, among others) that have dumped the national grid for long and relied on self- generated electricity, problems […]
adebayo adelabu
Many businesses that require electricity have turned to alternative energy following the abysmal performance of DisCos occasioned by endless national grid collapse.
Unlike some big time businesses in manufacturing and marketing (oil and gas, cement, big rice mills, among others) that have dumped the national grid for long and relied on self- generated electricity, problems of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), who could not dump the electricity supply from the national grid compounded in the few weeks.
The power supply in Nigeria has, since October this year, hit an abysmal and erratic point making businesses to lose substantial amounts of money.
Daily Trust findings revealed that many SMEs across the country have also resorted to the use of alternative sources of energy to stay afloat.
The federal government has blamed the serial collapses of the national grid on the destruction of electricity infrastructure like transmission towers and transformers as well as obsolete equipment in the transmission substations.
Last week, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) disclosed that its members spent N238.31 billion on alternative energy sources in the first half of 2024, a 7.69 per cent increase from H2 2023.
MAN, in its H1’24 Economic Review, explained the surge in costs was driven by higher prices for diesel, gas and other energy sources as well as the need for manufacturers to invest in self-energy generation due to unreliable power supply from the national grid.
Similarly, the Manufacturers Power Development Company Limited, a firm founded under MAN, said that current energy costs in the country are unsustainable for manufacturing firms, especially those in the Band A category.
To tackle this, the firm said it now provides 10 companies with sustainable energy solutions as part of its efforts towards bridging the energy gap nationwide.
Traders, artisans speak
Some business owners, who spoke to Daily Trust, explained how they are able to survive while looking elsewhere for their energy needs.
Isaac Iwu, a business owner of cosmetic enterprises at Kubwa in Abuja, said he took the option of using solar energy and found solace in it following the damage of the power transformer in the area.
Traders said the use of the alternative source had saved him over 50 per cent of electricity tariff.
A soft drinks store manager in Abuja, Aliyu Usman, said through the source of solar energy available in his store, he operates his two refrigerators in rationing, pending restoration of public power supply when he can switch on all the two cooling appliances at one time.
He said the use of the source had saved him from losses in the business as it had reduced the cost of the energy tariff from the public source power.
Kano
Sanusi Abdullahi, a frozen food dealer in Kano, said even though solar is a veritable energy, it requires huge capital to install the facility.
“I spent over N5 million to install the panels, batteries and inverter in my shop. This has taken substantial part of my business capital, but it is worth it.
“I can assure you that some of our colleagues have closed down their shops because they don’t have the money to put the solar option.
“There are others who lost their capital because they had stocked their refrigerators with chicken, turkey, beef, and fish shortly because the multiple grids collapse.
“They lost control of everything and they are now of business. We hope that the federal government will pay the desired attention to the energy sector to save jobs,” he said.
Abubakar Suleiman, who runs his tailoring service shop also in Kano, said he longer relies on the public supply of electricity but instead uses a gas-powered generator to operate his sewing machines.
Suleiman is also dedicating solar energy to all lighting points in his small shop to control spending on gas.
“Public supply of electricity is elusive here and I have since turned my generator to gas-powered and I don’t have much problem now. With a 12 kg filled gas cylinder, I spend some days working without thinking of public supply of electricity. Besides the generator, I had installed solar energy to take care of the lighting in the shop,” said Suleiman.
According to him, the challenge is the rising cost of gas which he said is still cheaper when compared to public electricity.
A laundry service operator, Abu Zarr Gifari, said he now runs the business solely on generator after some thieves had burgled his office late in the night carting away his solar batteries and panels.
He said: “Buying diesel to run the generator is adding to the running cost but it gives me satisfaction because my customers get efficient services with no disappointment.”
Ado Sheka told Daily Trust that his aluminium business in Kano is now dependent on generators to fabricate doors and windows since he only works during the day time.
He said using solar energy saves him a lot but that it requires a huge amount of money to install with the capacity to run his drilling and cutting machines and therefore something that he intends to do in the future.
Falalu Ahmad, a welder in Kano, said due to the long and unending power cuts, he has completely gone off electricity to execute his welding jobs.
Falalu, who has been in the welding business for over 18 years, said business now is about delivery saying, “If I continued to depend on electricity, I would have lost many of my customers instead of getting more because if you are not able to meet a customers’ deadline, you will lose many of them that is why I decided to go off electricity completely and depend solely on my generator.”
He called on the federal government to find a lasting solution to the epileptic power supply which he said had crippled many businesses and sources of livelihood.
MAN’s exporters task FG on green electricity
Speaking Daily Trust, the chairman of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria Exporters Group, Odiri Erewa Meggison, charged the federal government to invest in renewable energy.
He said manufacturers can no longer rely on the grid and those who can’t afford diesel can only operate for two to four hours daily.
“A lot of manufacturers now are only able to manufacture for two to four hours a day because they can’t afford diesel or petrol. But we can stem this by infusing green electricity to help reduce the cost of doing business”, he said.
Meggison stated that different companies are transiting from diesel to gas solar panels despite being capital intensive.
“What it does in the long term, it helps you to be more competitive from a business angle. So, there’s a need for the governments to help. There are a lot of companies that are already in that green space to help to reduce the cost of electricity for factories operating in Nigeria.”