Energy · 2 min read · 26 October 2026
Why a generator hour costs 2.4 to 4.5 times a grid hour
Diesel ran for about 5% of the sample site’s hours but made up 10–17% of its energy bill. Here’s the arithmetic, with the prices you can swap for your own.
Over 2026 the sample site’s generators burned about 21,800 litres of diesel. At ₦1,790 to ₦3,277 a litre, that’s ₦39.0m to ₦71.4m for the year, for 444 hours of running.
A generator turns a litre of diesel into roughly 3.5 kWh of electricity. So each kWh from the generator costs about ₦511 to ₦936. From the grid, the same kWh costs about ₦209.50.
Diesel at ₦1,790–3,277/L and ~3.5 kWh/L; grid at ₦209.50/kWh. Baobab Site A, 2026. Swap in your own prices: the ratio is what matters.
Every hour you move off the generator saves well over half its cost.
That’s why knowing exactly which hours ran on diesel matters more than knowing the yearly total. On the sample site, 90% of generator hours fell before August. Hours that cluster are hours you can plan around.
Sources and assumptions
- Sample site readings, Snowleaf method 0.1.0, 2026: 444 generator hours, 58.41 t CO₂e from diesel.
- Litres derived at 2.68 kg CO₂e per litre (illustrative factor, pending verification).
- Diesel, low: ₦1,790.25 a litre, GlobalPetrolPrices.com weekly Nigeria series, 19 October 2026.
- Diesel, high: ₦3,277.47 a litre, National Bureau of Statistics, Automotive Gas Oil Price Watch, May 2026 (average retail price across states).
- Grid: ₦209.50 per kWh, Band A, in NERC’s 2025 tariff orders for the distribution companies (for example ORDER/NERC/2025/068, PHED).
- Generator output: about 3.5 kWh per litre. Sizing tables give about 4 kWh per litre for a large set at 75–100% load, and less for smaller or lightly loaded sets.
See your own generator hours
A pilot shows every one, and what it cost.