| A new electricity tariff regime which would see certain category of consumers paying more is to take effect in May or June, chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has said. Mr. Sam Amadi told journalists in Abuja yesterday that the tariff increase would not be by 88 per cent as reported recently, because some consumers would end up paying only 11 per cent higher than they are paying now.
He said the new rates would be in categories residential, commercial, industrial and special. “We have also graduated the new tariff regime in such a manner that it will not affect the poor, low and middle income earners,” he said. “We have different tariffs for the masses, the middle class, artisans, the rich, industrial areas.” The NERC chairman said already residential consumers are no longer paying meter maintenance charges, adding that meters were also not supposed to be bought by the customer but by the distribution companies. Amadi said government has budgeted N60 billion to subsidise power consumption of the poor this year. He said contrary to a widespread belief, the power reforms ushering in the new tariff regime was not necessarily about the investor alone but also about the consumer who would now get value for money. “What the investors want to see is the total picture of what they will gain,” he said. But the chairman added that without the necessary investment, Nigeria would not be able to generate adequate power and the investors would not come into the business unless there was a profitable, sustainable tariff regime. The chairman said the country needed to generate at least 22, 000 to 25,000 megawatts of electricity for supply to be adequate. The present generation stands at between 3,600 and 3,800 megawatts, he added. Become an Oyibos OnLine fan on Facebook |
Feb242012