Philip Nwosa

The study examined the nature and structure of alternative supply of electricity in Nigeria. It has been observed that all the efforts of the Nigerian government to improve electricity supply and promote access to electricity have been proving abortive and households at various levels are confronted with the challenge of searching for alternative supply of electricity. Also, state government and some private organizations are interested in solving this challenge, but they lack appropriate empirically grounded information on the choice of alternative source of electricity. The study, which is a pure exploratory one, used primary data through well-structured questionnaire from a sample of 4,758 households across 16 local governments in Ekiti State of Nigeria. Applying descriptive statistics, the strengths and weaknesses of various alternative sources of electricity supply among households were analyzed. The results indicate that rechargeable appliances, electricity generating set, inverter and solar/inverter are the four major types of alternative sources of electricity supply common among the households. It was also revealed that out of all the positive ratings such as regularity in supply, ease of maintenance and capacity, solar powered source of alternative electricity supply appears to be the best. The only rating that is unfavorable to the solar type of alternative sources of electricity supply is in the area of affordability. Government and interested private organizations should embark on establishment of solar powered stations for some communities or distribution of solar panels and inverters at subsidized rate to households to improve their socio-economic well-being.