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Electricity: Consumers, experts, others react as NERC plans new tariff review
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By Udeme Akpan & Ediri Ejoh
Consumers of electricity, experts, others, Tuesday, reacted as the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) plans a new tariff review in the nation.
In its notice issued April 26, 2021, NERC had stated: “Accordingly, this notice is issued to inform the general public and industry stakeholders of the Commission’s intention to conclude the Extraordinary Tariff Review process for the eleven DisCos, commence the processes for the July 2021 Minor Review of MYTO – 2020 to consider changes in inflation, foreign exchange, gas prices, available generation capacity, and CAPEX required to evacuate and distribute the said available generation capacity in accordance with EPSRA and other extant industry rules.
A twitter user, Richard Daniel under Port Harcourt DisCo, said he often gets 153.9 units when he recharges his meter with N5000 worth of token. However, that has reduced to 88 units now, when he vended last week, indicating 42 per cent increase.
Shamsudeen Ibrahim, a resident in Abuja under Abuja DisCo, said previously, N10,000 vending got him 386 units as of November but he only got N197 units recently.
“That is about a 49 per cent increase. We are just being deceived that the increment is not more than N4.”
John Okon said he had expected 38 units for vending of N1,000 but got 19 units instead, showing a 50 per cent increase.
Increase in inflation and FOREX
NERC in a statement on Tuesday confirmed the adjustment of the electricity tariffs between two naira and four naira, saying it was to reflect the increase in inflation and foreign exchange rates.
According to the statement, the Commission said although tariff increases for Bands D and E (Customers getting power below 12 hours daily) remain ‘frozen’, it, however, admitted that the tariff rates for these classes of customers were also “adjusted’ upwardly.”
The statement said: “In compliance with the provisions of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA) and the nation’s tariff methodology for biannual minor review, the rates for service bands A, B, C, D and E have been adjusted by N2.00 to N4.00 per kilowatt-hour (kW-hr) to reflect the ‘partial’ impact of inflation and movement in foreign exchange rates.