Let me welcome all Band A customers to the “exciting world” of expensive power.
We have been doing it for years as I explained in this tweet below.
Trust me, forget all your energy savings plans, the real elephant in the room is your AC. And I’ll explain why..

The last time I paid N270/Kwh plus for power was last December. Since then it’s been over N400/Kwh.
And if you are like me, with a household of 5 or more then be rest assured you will spend between 800KWh to 1000KWh for power if you get at least 18 hours of power on the average.

The elephant in the room is your AC.
I’ve seen post here suggesting turning off deep freezers, switching to energy savings bulbs etc helps conserve power. While it’s true, it is nothing close to your AC.
You can turn on your entire fridge, freezer, fans, bulbs for the whole day and you won’t rack up more than 10kwh per day which is equivalent of N2,750 per day.
But turn on a 1hp AC from 7pm to 7am and you incur 8.94KWh or N2,458 for just 12 hours. This is just 1hp.
Here is how you calculate it

Most ACs come in hose powers. So to convert it to KV you multiple by 0.745 and then by the number of hours the power is used to get the KWh.
So for example, if you use three 1hp AC, and 1 2hp AC like I do most nights it gives you 5hp.
Multiply that by 0.745 you get 44.7KWh

Multiply that by 275 you get N12,292 per day or N368.7k per month.
Some engineers will opine the consumption can vary depending on how you manage your AC.
The cooler your AC the more power it consumers. Inverter ACs consume less per hp but those things don’t work very well with our weather. Especially if you live in a big house.

This is going to be the reality of a lot of people who have large households. Especially, if there is power and they want to enjoy from when they come back from work until in the morning.
The average power bill of a 3 bedroom flat with 3 ACs and 20 hours of power should be within the range of N220k monthly.
Juxtapose it to their salaries and you understand what lies ahead for Nigeria’s lower and upper middle class.

Increasing electricity tariff will upend lifestyles more than anything else I’ve witnessed in Nigeria.
For example, real estate, birth control, WFH, long stay guests/relatives, solar power usage etc. a lot of things will change.
Inflation could also rise further.

Like my neighbours, I have solar powered inverters installed which carries everything 24/7 except ACs, water heaters, pumping machine and iron.
Yet, I average 40KWh a day as we turn on the ACs from 7pm to 7am.
Typically, with the rains consumptions drop because the ACs work less.
But trust me, this stuff will humble you. Power is not cheap and a rude shock awaits a lot of Nigerians.