POWER AND ENERGY IS FRUSTRATING BUSINESSES…TSTV as a case study
At TStv headquarters in Idu, Abuja, we consume 45,000 litres of diesel every month. The Idu facility seats on 1.6 hectares of land. We have over 200 ACs to power, we have transmission equipment, our 150- Channel Network Operations Center, TSTV studios, our Satellite teleport, our Tier III data center facility and many infrastructure all in Idu HQ that must never go off for one second. When we complement with AEDC, we consume between 36,000 and 38,000 litres. There are several months we have relied on generators to run our 24 hour operations. In most part of 2021, we spent between 12m and 14m monthly on diesel. Last december 2021, it rose to 14.8m. AEDC takes on the average 3m to 4m monthly. So in a month, we incur between 15m to 17m on power. This is outside generator servicing.
As a company, it was never convenient spending 17m monthly on power in abuja HQ of TSTV alone. From our finance records, TSTV bought 769,300 litres of diesel Jan 2021 to Dec 2021 for TSTV headquarters and its affiliate offices. From Jan 2021 to Dec 2021, TSTV spent 232m (Two Hundred and thirty two Million Naira) on diesel purchase alone. That includes all the other offices of TSTV. The unfortunate thing is that the actual need of TSTV monthly is 68,000 litres and this covers other offices of TStv and our affiliated businesses across Nigeria. TStv HQ, Idu alone runs 24 hours on generators since July 2021. TSTV HQ, Idu consumes 45,000 litres monthly and that is no joke.
In January 2022, the 17m monthly rose to 24m monthly. I cried. This March 2022, I am so pained that diesel for TSTV headquarters operation alone has climbed to 36m for the same 45,000 litres we buy at 14m in October 2021.
Yesterday, I received a request for the usual 68,000 litres of diesel for TSTV HQ and other offices of affiliated companies and guess what the cost will be, 54,400,000 naira for March 2022 alone. Imagine 54.4m Naira for the month of March alone. 54.4m is 23% of our total spending on diesel in 2021. How can 20.4m Naira monthly that we spent in most of last year for diesel climb to 54.4m monthly. If this issue is not resolved by Government, it means TSTV should be prepared to look for 489m Naira (Four hundred and eighty nine million naira) to power its generators for the next 9 months.
I am seriously pained. TSTV will sure continue to serve Nigerians with uninterrupted pay TV service but this is coming with extreme pain and discomfort. I am pained and I know a lot of SMEs are going through this crisis too.
The Government should save Nigerian businesses.
Bright Echefu
MD/CEO,
TSTV Africa pay TV
