From Fred Itua and Kenneth Udeh, Abuja
The Senate, yesterday, halted moves to adopt a report of the Committee on Power, which recommended the suspension of the ongoing implementation of the new electricity tariff hike.
The move was endorsed by the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, who presided, following a point of order raised by Titus Zam (APC, Benue North West), wherein he asked the Senate to suspend deliberations on the report because the matter was before a federal high court in Kano.
The senator’s observation also received the support of Ondo South senator, Jimoh Ibrahim.
Two weeks ago, the Senate Committee on Power, chaired by Eyinnaya Ababribe (APGA, Abia Central), held an investigative hearing on the increase in the electricity tariff.
The meeting had in attendance the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, managers of Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs), chairman and executives of the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and other stakeholders.
Presenting the committee’s 44-page report, Ababribe told the Senate that after exhaustive deliberations with the various stakeholders, the committee resolved to direct the NERC to suspend the tariff hike until further notice.
The report stated that, “NERC suspends the ongoing implementation of MYTO, 2024, which approved over 200 percent upward review of the previous tariffs from N68/kWh to N225/kWh to allow for robust consultations with customers on the various bands on the cost of service, instead of heavy reliance on feeder location and duration of service, which are difficult to determine and monitor.”
The report also recommended that the “NERC should ensure full compliance with the mandatory requirement of stakeholder consultation under Section 48 of the Electricity Act, 2023, regarding future regulatory decisions to avoid a repeat of the confusion and public outcry that trailed the recent tariff increase.”
The committee also resolved that the Ministry of Power and NERC adopt measures to address the problem of power scarcity holistically rather than its preoccupation with price manipulation, which has proven to be counterproductive.
“Furthermore, rather than increase electricity tariff, the NERC should hold the DISCOs accountable on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), including failure to deliver on CAPEX and OPEX allocations, customer metering obligation under the Electricity Act, 2023, essential customer service obligations, including customer sensitisation, implementation of energy credits for customers, who invested in transformers, metres and other assets on the DISCO networks,” the report said.
Abaribe’s report received the support of all the senators that spoke, who expressed their displeasure at the planned tariff increase.
Senate Minority Leader, Abba Moro, said the increase was fraudulent as it was not commensurate with the power supplied by the DISCOS.
The Benue South lawmaker said: “We thank Mr. President for the metering, the price increase is not commensurate with the supply of electricity. In one hour, there will be a power outage more than 10 times. We provide transformers for our communities, but the DISCOS don’t even come to install them, and even when they come, they will request for money. I think we should, as a whole, adopt the recommendations of the committee and it speaks to the aspirations of Nigerians.”
Moro called for serious sanctions on the distribution companies for their failure to deliver.
On his part, Adamu Aliero carpeted NERC for taking such decisions without proper consideration and disregarding the law.
The Kebbi Central lawmaker said: “This increment was done without the provisions of the law. The customers were not represented and there was no orientation. Nigerians are already confronted with an increase in the exchange rate, petrol, and now, we are bringing another increase.
“This increase should be halted in the interest of the country. Members of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), said they have closed their factories because they could not pay this tariff. You can’t develop a nation without massive production and massive production requires power.”
Following the observation raised by Zam, Jibrin told the senators that he could not ignore their point of view. Jibrin subsequently ruled the report be stepped down for proper consultation.