The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has assured electricity consumers in the country that any customer not currently enjoying 20 hours of electricity will not be compelled to pay the new tariff.
The minister gave the assurance on Monday while appearing before the Senate Committee on Power for its one-day investigative hearing on the need to halt the proposed increase in electricity tariff by the electricity distribution companies (DisCos) amid the current economic challenges in the country.
According to him, the government has introduced a new policy to save the seriously troubled sector and assured Nigerians that the pains were temporary.
Adelabu also told the lawmakers that the Federal Government would pay the sum of N2.9 trillion to subsidize electricity this year if the tariff was not reviewed.
During the session, Chairman of the committee, Senator Eyinnnaya Abaribe, raised the question of how customers were migrated from the previous customer classes of Residential (R1, R2, R3), Commercial (C1, C2) and Demand (D1, D2), to different bands and requested to know if the band classification was under the provisions of the law.
He also raised questions on how the parameters differentiate between regions and areas, citing a portion of the act that highlighted the need for non-discriminatory distribution.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had a few weeks ago authorized the DisCos to effect changes in their tariffs in view of the micro and macroeconomic indices that are making it difficult for the companies to profitably operate
Specifically, the commission increased the tariff paid by Band A customers from N68/KWh to N225/kWh.
Band A customers receive 20-24 hours of electricity supply daily while their counterparts categorized under Band B enjoy 16 to 20 hours of power supply and those in Band C receive 12 to 16 hours daily.
As a result, the DisCos adjusted their electricity tariffs for consumers in the Band A category by NERC.
