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Isaac Anumihe (Abuja) and Adewale Sanyaolu
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has assured there would be no electricity tariff hike until consumers are consulted for their input.
Commissioner, Finance and Management Services of NERC, Mr. Nathan Rogers Shatti, gave the assurance at the Public Hearing on Extraordinary Tariff Review Application by Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) in Lagos, yesterday.
Shatti, explained that all the memoranda submitted by consumers will be carefully examined by the regulator before coming up with an appropriate tariff for the Disco.
He said that a situation whereby a Disco comes up with a tariff hike proposal under the guise of wanting to invest in infrastructure upgrade would no longer be tenable.
‘‘To say the basis of wanting to hike tariff is for investment purposes will be closely looked into. Discos must be able to demonstrate to consumers that their planned investment will lead to improved and efficient service delivery while they must equally know where such investments will be deployed’’
He maintained that consumers are not necessarily worried about the cost of electricity but are worried about the fact that the services are not going to be commensurate with what they will pay should there be an increase in tariff.
Meanwhile, it is becoming obvious that poor Nigerians will now pay an average of 35 per cent in the new Electricity Tariff Review taking effect on April 1, 2020.
Managing Director of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), Ernest Mupwaya, gave this hint during an interactive session between the AEDC Executive Management Team and the Media on the proposed tariff review in Abuja.
Justifying the proposed tariff review which should be should be given accelerated consideration, Mupwaya said, it would guarantee sufficient power supply, metering, massive investments in the network and improve service to the customers.
He noted that government support on tariff will drop from 54per cent to 29per cent, leaving 71 per cent for the customers. He explained that the current tariff was 46 per cent because government support was 54per cent, bringing the total market remittance to 100per cent. He said, out of the 100per cent expected revenue collection from customers, AEDC keeps only 25 per cent of the total revenue collected.
