… as NERC Concludes ‘Extraordinary Review’
Olusola Bello
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) says it is concluding the Extraordinary Tariff Review process for the 11 Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos).
NERC, which is the regulator of Nigeria’s power sector, made this known on Monday in a notice to the general public and industry stakeholders posted on its website.
The commission said the review was pursuant to the provisions of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA).
According to NERC, extraordinary tariff reviews are carried out in instances where industry parameters have changed from those used in the operating tariffs to such an extent that a review is urgently required to maintain the viability of the industry.
The commission said it would also commence the processes for the July 2021 Minor Review of the Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO-2020), which is done every six months.
Recent World Bank’s report indicated that over 78% of electricity consumers in Nigeria received less than 12 hours of electricity supply daily.
The Bank had in an online meeting with energy correspondents in Abuja stating that a total of 74% of power users in Nigeria were dissatisfied with the supply of electricity across the country.
It further disclosed that while 93% of metered power users paid their bills regularly, 78%of electricity consumers in Nigeria received less than 12 hours of supply daily, stressing that the findings were done after a thorough survey conducted by the global financial institution.
The federal government though has insisted that power distribution to consumers had been steadily improving, even though it had stated last week that 17 of the 25 generation power plants were down, leading to a deterioration in nationwide supply.
While responding to the Power Sector Recovery Programme (PSRP), a fact sheet released by the Bank, the Nigernian government noted that it was inaccurate to make a blanket statement on the country’s power sector
It argued that empirical evidence from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) showed that only 55% of citizens connected to the grid is in tariff bands D and E which is less than 12 hours supply.
The statement said: “It is inaccurate to make a blanket statement that 78% of Nigerians have less than 12 hours daily access. The data from NERC is that 55% of citizens connected to the grid are in tariff bands D and E which are less than 12 hours supply.
“Those citizens are being fully subsidised to pre-September 2020 tariffs until Discos are able to improve supply. There is a $3billion CAPEX fund from the Central Bank of Nigeria for Discos to improve infrastructure for these tariff classes similar to the metering programme that is ongoing.”
