NERC to announce new electricity tariff this week

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has said the new electricity proposed months back will be announce this week.

The regulatory agency disclosed this at a workshop in Abuja at the weekend, adding that it had considered the submissions of the 11 electricity distribution companies (Discos) in Nigeria’s electricity market, and would after a final regulatory meeting in the week, announce the new rates.

According to the Chairman of NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, the regulator had held meetings with the Discos to finalise their respective tariff proposals. He said that the commission had also got feedbacks from both government and the Discos and would now conclude the process.

Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, had last week announced that NERC and the 11 Discos had been directed to meet and come up with what he described as a fair market tariff.

Fashola had said that the new tariff was key to reliable electricity supply in the country, appealing to consumers to accommodate the incoming increase with some benefit of doubts on the government’s sincerity to enthrone a fair tariff regime in the sector.

He pointed out that a good tariff system guarantees good power supply and drew close analogy to what happened in the country’s telecoms sector when it was privatised in 1999.

Fashola stressed that the sector would eventually plateau to allow supply and tariffs gain commercial values.

“Without a tariff system, there will be no power. A fair market tariff is expected to be announced by the regulator after meeting with the distribution companies. When the new tariff comes, please conserve light. We must pay for what we consume whether we like it or not,” he had said.

He also noted that the Discos must commit to certain key performance conditions, including providing prepaid meters and expansion of network in line with the proposed new tariff order.

NERC also noted that the revenue shortfall that accumulated with its freezing of the Residential 2 (R2) class tariff earlier in the year when it approved a cost-reflective tariff in the Multi Year Tariff Order 2.1 (MYTO) would be incorporated in the new tariff to enable the operators recover their cost of supplies to consumers.

One of its tariffs and rates officials, Aisha Mahmoud, in her presentation at the workshop said: “We calculated the shortfall accruing to the freeze of the R2 and we incorporated it in the tariff because that’s part of the revenue of the operators and they have to recover it one way or the other.”