Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
Minister of Power, Mr. Sale Mamman, yesterday stated that there would be no major hike in electricity tariff, but failed to completely dismiss the statement released by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Agency (NERC), giving Nigerians a 21-day feedback period before the increase in July.
In a statement he personally signed in Abuja, the minister said Nigerians should expect an increased efficiency in the sector that would eventually lead to reduced tariffs while managing issues associated with foreign exchange and inflation.
Making the announcement during the week, NERC had explained that the latest notice was issued to inform the general public and industry stakeholders of the commission’s intention to conclude the extraordinary tariff review process for the 11 Distribution Companies (Discos).
In addition, NERC stated that it was also set to commence the processes for the July 2021 minor review of MYTO (2020) to consider changes in inflation, foreign exchange, gas prices, available generation capacity and capital expenditure.
But Mamman explained that the order issued by NERC on the 26th of April 2021 titled “Notice of Minor and Extraordinary Review of Tariffs for Electricity Transmission and Distribution Companies” was a routine procedure.
He said the review planned by NERC is in accordance with Section 76 of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA) of 2005.
According to him, the tariff for customers on service bands D & E, served less than an average of 12 hours of supply per day over a period of one month remains subsidised in line with the policy direction of the federal government.
The minister said Section 76 of the act, provides clear guidelines for the periodic review of tariff based on market data and submissions from licencees.
He stated that the guidelines include the provision that the commission shall give notice of activities related to tariff in the official gazette, and in one or more newspapers.
“The MYTO per NERC’s regulation obtains inputs from operators in the market every six months to perform minor reviews and a major review is required every five years.
“Thus, as in January a minor review will occur in June. Given that the timing for the extraordinary review has also elapsed, a review will occur for consideration in January 2022,’ the statement said.
Mamman said the Buhari administration remained faithful to the adopted resolutions from the joint technical committee on electricity tariffs which he said recommended for NERC to conduct an extraordinary review of the MYTO and further revise factors as well as align them with current evolving realities.
” The reason this recommendation was posited by the committee was to ensure that efficiencies could be derived from an extraordinary review to further reduce tariffs” Mamman said.
He added that government was committed to increasing the supply of energy to the grid through rapid expansion of infrastructure through the various facilities for the sector either to the Distribution Companies (Discos) under strict terms or to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
“Furthermore, the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) is on course to reduce losses. To date more than 500,000 meters have been delivered to Discos in phase 0 of the programme in five months. This exceeds the progress done for the entire Meter Access Provider (MAP) scheme. We will eliminate the metering gap during the life of the administration,” the federal government stated.
Mamman said the current administration was not unaware of the challenges that Nigerians face, which is why, according to him, government has continued to subsidise the band D and E consumers to pre-September 2020 rates or 55 per cent of grid connected customers.
