Despite complaints by customers about the current tariff regime, the Federal Government has increased tariffs by about 50 percent for electricity consumers nationwide.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in its latest order copied all the distribution companies (Discos), stated that the upward hike in tariffs was necessitated by rising inflation rate, foreign exchange, generation capacity and gas prices, among others.
In the latest revised Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO) signed by the new Chairman of NERC, Mr. Sanusi Garba, and Commissioner, Legal, Licensing and Compliance, Dafe Akpeneye, on December 31, 2020, the memo indicated that the new tariff increase took effect on January 1, 2021.
The industry tariff regime regulator noted that the latest order, NERC/225/2020, superseded the previous Order NERC/2028/2020.
Specifically, the NERC listed the factors justifying the tariff hike as: “14.9 per cent inflation rate rise in November 2020, foreign exchange of N379.4/$1 as of December 29, 2020, available generation capacity, US inflation rate of 1.22 per cent and the Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) of the power firms.”
The order also covers the rate of increases expected to be paid by Nigerians between now and 2024, with a unit costing as much as N74 by then.
It would be recalled the modified tariff regime about four months ago had sparked serious opposition by electricity consumers who felt the increase would further accentuate living and production costs as the consumer price index (CPI), which measures inflation rate, continued to surge by the day.
