Electricity tariffs’ll increase only by 11 per cent -NERC

THE chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr Sam Amadi, told journalists in Abuja on Wednesday that contrary to reports that electricity tariff would increase by 88 per cent, some category of consumers would not pay more than 11 per cent increase when the new tariff regime takes effect in May this year.
He said that the new tariff would come in categories for various consumers and that would have been responsible for the wrong figure of 88 per cent reported by some media recently.

However, Dr Amadi’s figure still contradicts the about 50 per cent increase which the Minister of Power, Professor Bart Nnaji told the Senate recently.
“It is not true that the tariffs will increase by 88 per cent. The increase is about 11 per cent,” Dr Amadi said, pointing out that even certain category of consumers classified as “special customers” would even pay lower than the 11 per cent increase such as hospitals and streetlights.
Explaining a possible cause of different tariffs being announced by different persons, the NERC boss said if one combined commercial rates and residential rates, one would get wrong figures.
Minister of Power, Professor Nnaji, was reported to have told the Senate Committee on Power that the increase would be from the current N2.20 to N3.20
However, both Professor Nnaji and Dr Amadi agreed, R1 consumers, consisting rural dwellers and urban poor, will pay less tariffs, as they would continue to enjoy subsidy from the Federal Government.
C1, consisting of artisans and small businesses, would also pay less tariffs, in line with the policy of providing power to the Small and Medium Enterprises in the country by the Federal Government.
Other measures put in place by the NERC to eli-minate unnecessary char-ges included removal of fixed charges, a 50 per cent cut in metre maintenance charge, which consumers had suffered at the hands of the Power Holding company of Nigeria (PHCN).
Metre maintenance charge, he said, had been reduced from N1,000 to N500, adding that NERC would put in place a transparent billing system to avoid a situation consumers were overcharged by power distribution companies.
In the asbsence of prepaid metres, Dr Amadi disclosed that estimation method would continue to be used, but assured that figures arrived through estimation would not be different from what meters read for customers of similar consumption capacity.