The House of Representatives has rejected a move by the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to approve any increase in electricity tariff.
The resolution followed a motion by the Deputy Minority
Whip, Aliyu Madaki at the plenary in
Abuja on Thursday.
In his motion, he expressed concern over the suspense
created by the planned increase in electricity tariff by Distribution Companies
(DISCOs)
The lawmaker recalled that DISCOs recently alerted customers
of a planned electricity tariff hike,
hinging it on the Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO).
He cited a circular issued to that effect by the
distribution firms, adding that
effective July 1, 2023, there would be an upward review of the electricity
tariff influenced by fluctuating rates.
He said, under the MYTO, 2022 guidelines, the previous
exchange rate of N 441/$1 might be revised to approximately N750/$1 which would
have an impact on the tariffs associated with electricity.
He said under the planned hike, consumers within ‘B’ and ‘C’
with supply hours ranging from
12–16 hours per day would pay N100 per KWh, while Bands ‘A’
with 20 hours and above
He said consumers within and ‘B’ with 16–20 hours, would
experience comparatively higher tariffs, for customers with prepaid metre,
whereas, for those on estimated billing, a significant increment was expected.
He said the recent statement by the Abuja Electricity
Distribution Company (AEDC) directing its consumers to disregard the earlier
notice of the increase in the electricity tariffs hike was confusing.
He added that members of the public were confused as to what
to believe.
The lawmaker said the proposed increase is coming in spite
of the inability of the operators to meet the threshold of supplying at least
5,000 megawatts per year.
This, he said, was
after signing the contract with NERC, adding that it was insensitive to come up
with price increase of such magnitude at this time when many Nigerians were yet
to come to terms with the fuel increase.
Contributing to the motion,
Babajimi Benson (APC-Lagos) and
Olumide Oshoba (APC-Ogun) called for caution in view of the pain the
Nigerians are going through occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy.
Benson noted the increase cost of infrastructure, which
companies must strive to cover.
Osoba however said that it was impossible to control prices
for a deregulated market.
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