PREMIUM TIMES
The House of Representatives has asked the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs) to revert to the old electricity tariff.
The resolution was contained in a report by the ad hoc committee to investigate the recent electricity tariff hike for customers in the Band A category.
The report, presented by the Chairman of the joint committee, Victor Nwokolo, made three recommendations to the House, which the Committee of the Whole adopted.
In April, the Nigerian government announced a hike in the electricity tariff, affecting customers in the Band A category, who represent 17 per cent of the customers and consume 40 per cent of the electricity output.
The policy allowed DISCOs to raise electricity prices to ₦225 ($0.15) per kilowatt-hour from ₦68 in return for guaranteeing 20 hours of electricity supply per day.
The government explained that the decision to implement the tariff increase was to improve liquidity in the downstream power sector, as it had become difficult to sustain the subsidy in the sector.
“Now, if you add the ₦2 trillion legacy debt owed to gas companies and the ₦1.3 trillion owed to GenCos, we have an inherited debt of over ₦3 trillion in this sector. How will the sector move forward? Nigerians deserve the right to know this,” the Minister of Power, Bayo Adelabu, said in February.
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The hike was condemned by customers and organised labour groups, including the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), which called for the reversal of the policy.
However, the government proceeded with the hike and even upgraded more customers into the Band A category.
On 30 April, the House urged NERC to suspend the tariff hike pending the conclusion of its investigation but the government went ahead with the implementation.
