LAGOSIANS URGED TO STOP ELECTRICITY WASTAGE AS LSEB TAKES CAMPAIGN TO GRASSROOTS

 It is no longer news that Nigeria does not generate enough electricity needed by its citizens thus rationing of the little generated has left commercialized states like Lagos with a meagre electricity supply of about 1000 megawatts from the national grid. In order to ensure that the state have at least enough electricity for its ever growing economy and citizens, this has made the state government to come up with building of power plants across the state in accordance with the law which will power government institutions within the state thereby the supply from the national grid would all go into use by citizens of the state. It is also in the same vein that the state also began a campaign by the Lagos State Electricity Board under the Ministry of Energy and Mineral resources in all the five divisions of the state tagged; “Conserve Energy Save Money” to sensitise citizens of the state that the little electricity currently supplied to the state can still go a long way in making electricity available to everyone in the state if well use and conserve.

In one of such campaign by the Lagos State Electricity Board in Ikorodu division of the state, we caught up with the PRO of LSEB, Mr. Adedeji Akolade to throw more light on the “Conserve Energy Save Money” campaign and what the state government is doing through the Lagos State Electricity Board to supplement the power supply to the state.

According to him; the energy conservation campaign is an initiative of Lagos State government to improve the electricity supply of the state. This was born out of the power audit conducted in the state where it was realised that for the state to have steady supply of electricity the state will need about 10000 megawatts of electricity and from what we are getting presently is less than 1000 megawatts which is not enough. So with this the Lagos State government have come up with power plants to generate alternative power using solar and we have three functional power plants. There is one at Akute, Island power plant 1 and 2 and the Alausa IPP all put together generate close to 35 megawatts of electricity generated by the state government to power the state institutions although the federal government still hold the transmission license, the law allows states and individuals to generate their own electricity using any form of alternative. The idea is that if we can generate about 1000 megawatts of electricity for government use the almost 1000 we will get from the national grid is thrown back to the public thus invariably Lagos state government is giving close to 1000 megawatts of electricity to Lagosians.

Consequently the “Conserve Energy Save Money” campaign is needed because electricity usage by Lagosians is anti – productive and this is telling on the pressure on power facilities such has transformer break down or blowing up. To support his claims he cited results of various auditing of electricity usage in the state where it has been discovered that; Lagosians waste over N1.5 billion annually by leaving their computers on standby thus they have been advisied to switch off their computer when not in use from the socket, Lagosians also waste over N8 billion annually by using high wattage convention light bulbs thus are advised to switch to energy saving bulbs. Lagosians also waste over N5.6 billion annually by boiling more water than they actually require all of which are just some of the ways energy are wasted by Lagosians. Therefore sanitizing Lagosians on ways to conserve energy will go a long way in reducing the toll which not generating enough electricity is already having thus energy conservation is habitual it is what you develop, hence when a particular light is not in use it is advisable to put it off thereby conserving energy and reserving for others who needs it at that particular time and also reducing the amount one will have to incur at the end of the month.

In the fore front of this campaign is the Lagos State Electricity Board as it is the implementing agency under the ministry of Energy and Mineral resources. According to Mr. Adedeji It is the goal of the LSEB to maximise power supply for Lagosians through independent power plants to power government institutions therefore every power generated reduces the amount use by government institutions from the supply from the national grid thereby allowing the citizens to have more electricity supply for their consumption. While doing this also enlightening the citizens on how to conserve energy thereby making electricity more assessable to the people of this state and to make this possible the Lagos State Electricity Board came up with various ways to enlightening the people such as the road campaign, flyers, pictorial representation of wrong usage of electricity. The Lagos State Electricity Board has also develops and launched an android application which can be downloaded to any android phone or tablet which will help Lagosians calculate their household energy consumption per month which in turn would help them develop a saving culture. In the application, household appliances have been documented into it all that is needed is for one to click on the applicable household items the application will then tell you the wattage you’ve been using and when you now begin to conserve energy the application would allow you see how much electricity you have saved while also reducing your own bill at the end of the month; the application can be downloaded on the Lagos State Electricity Board website, www.lseb.gov.ng/apps. All this is been embark on by the Lagos State Electricity Board in order to change the attitude of citizens to energy disposition, correct the crazy bill concept that is if Lagosians manage their electricity consumption very well they are likely to reduce their electricity payment at the end of the month and most importantly augment the state government effort of ensuring the supply of steady electricity in the state.        

The sensitisation which is an annual event, According to Mr. Adedeji would be a continuous exercise due to success recorded from it last year although malls were used last year but in order to reach the grassroots prompted the road show for this year event which was flagged off on September 20^th by the Hon Commissioner for Mineral Resources Engr. Taofeek Tijani. It is important that the, “Conserve Energy Save Money” campaign is taking to the grassroots because experience has shown that people at the grassroots are prone to energy abuse he said.