HOUSEHOLD DEMAND FOR ELECTRICITY IN OWERRI
METROPOLIS ;
ESTIMATING THE ALTERNATIVE
SUPPLY
ECHETA, D. O., OKPARA, G.I., &
EMERENINI, F.M.
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Introduction
The paper examines Household Demand for
Electricity in Owerri Metropolis; Estimating
the Alternative supply.
It uses well structured questionnaire to
garner data on the amount spent on both
public power supply and that provided by the
individuals .
Motivation of the paper and problem
statement
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The incidences of power outage, load shading
and epileptic power supply has prompted this
paper .
To Mordi, Englama and Adebusiyi (2010) citing
Sule and Anyanwu (1994), installed capacity of
private generators is estimated to be about half
of NEPA’s total generation capacity, comprising
numerous small units that are expensive to
operate.
Relevance of the paper
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The analysis is useful to us on how much it
will cost to provide electricity by an average
household in the precarious situation we are.
Since power (electricity) provided by PHCN
is poor, the expenditure on other sources of
power supply which basically is the generator
is important to us.
Organisation of the paper
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section one deals with the introduction and
statement of problems.
Section two, has the literature review and
other contextual issues.
Section three provides the methodology.
Section four discusses the results while
section five ushers the conclusion and
recommendation for policy analysis.
Review of related litrature
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Many works have cocentrated on the
importance of electricity and the need for its
alternative in driving growth.
To Chen, Kuo and Chen (2007) electricity
infrastructure plays an important role in
economic growth and employment
generation for developing countries more
than the developed ones.
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According to Mahedi (2012), quoting Mozumder and
Marathe (2007) in Bangladesh, expansion of
economic activities is restrained by the under
developed electricity infrastructure. ,
Olaye and Akinbode (2012) found out that
expenditure on generator power supply increased
with house hold income and age of the house hold.
They are of the view that money spent in this regard
could have been avoided if there was regular supply
of power from the public sources.
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To Sambo (2008) notwithstanding the availability of
vast natural resources in the country, electricity
demand in Nigeria far outstrips the supply.
To Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) (2006), in
Uganda electricity is part of infrastructure, which
contributes to economic development through
increasing productivity, providing amenities, which
enhances the quality of life and acting as immediate
input to production
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. Electricity consumption in Nigeria exhibit
similar pattern with the rest of African
countries mentioned. For instance in the
1970’s electricity consumption recorded
significant growth in Nigeria . But declined
later, largely due to lower electricity
generation caused by shortages in gas
supply for power generation .
Methodology
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Owerri metropolis is in Imo State serving as both the
commercial and administrates capital of the state.
Owerri metropolis is made up of Owerri municipal,
Owerri north, Owerri west, and Mbaitoli local
government areas .
Owerri metropolis constitutes the state capital and
the largest city. Its population is estimated to be
about one quarter of the entire State population
estimated at about 3,934, 899 million inhabitants.
Sample Design
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We involved a multi stage sampling technique which delineated
Owerri metropolis into four local Government Areas, namely:
Owerri municipal,
Owerri west ,
Owerri north and
Mbaitoli Local Government Areas.
Consequently, through probability sampling methods involving
systematic random sampling, Households where selected form
each of the four LGAs.
In all one hundred Household were selected from each LGA
amounting to total number of 400 questionnaire distributed.
Result and Discussions
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Load characteristics of household . From the load analysis,
the survey questionnaire show that 297 households accounting
for 74.2 percent of electricity consumed is during the peak
period of 6.00pm – 12 midnight.
Whereas 74 house hold 4 percent and 29 household
accounting for 18.5 percent and 29 household accounting for
7.3 percent reveal electricity consumed in the shoulder (6.00am
– 6.00pm) and off peak (12 mid night – 6am) respectively.
The implication is that total energy consumed is highest during
the period’s 6.00 pm – 12 midnight when workers both in
private, government and personal business are at home.
Power Sources and Back up Alternatives.
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The survey reveals that 88.7 percent of the
household does not get power supply from the main
grid to meet up with their energy demand while 11.3
percent shows that the main grid meets up with their
energy demand.
We are not surprised since few locations in Owerri
especially houses along the PHCN sub stations
Egbu Owerri and its environs experience some level
of power supply as part of their corporate social
responsibility.
Summary of findings
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household energy demand is for domestic production and not
industrial .
The survey equally reveals that only 4 percent of the household
utilize below 20 percent of their standby generator.
10 percent of the household utilize 20 – 40 percent of the back
up generator while 15 percent of the household utilize 40 – 60
percent of the back up generator.
However, 71 percent of the household reveals that they utilize
their standby generator up 60 percent and above.
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The estimated total amount for running the
generating set for a month gives the average of
N16990.00.
While the total amount in naira spent on paying
PHCN bill in a month is on the average N5845.
The implication of this sum is that on daily basis it
takes a household to spend N566.33 for running
back up generator.
In contrast, the power provided by PHCN, if regular
will only cost N195 daily.
Conclusion
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In conclusion, the paper x-rayed Household demand for
electricity in Owerri metropolis estimating the alternative supply.
This study has added to the body of knowledge on household
and residential energy consumption for Nigeria.
Using descriptive statistics, the paper reveals that power
supplied from hydro supply of PHCN though not regular is
cheaper and cleaner.
The paper in its summary reveals that much more than required
is used in running and servicing generating sets in Nigeria .
Recommendation
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There is need to mitigate the power supply shortages by increasing the
generation capacity throughout the country.
It is expected that more hydro plants be established
The need to further strengthen the Integrated Power Project (IPP) in the
country is important toward moving to reliable clean energy.
Government at all levels should support private developers who may wish to
produce and distribute mini hydro power stations. Expectedly this will lead to
increase in capacity of power generated.
PHCN should assess state of the art equipment to circumvent some avoidable
technical hitches.
Finally, there should be neighborhood organization that will gather resources to
run single large generating sets to curb high incidence of noise pollution and
other environmental hazard posed by rampant small generators littered every
where.
This will have enormous advantage in terms of economies of scale and cost
reduction.
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