No electricity tariff increase for now —Nebo

Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo

 

The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, has ruled out any increase in electricity tariff until power supply increases. He also said that efforts were being made to curb estimated billing in the Nigerian electricity supply industry.

Nebo, who spoke at the Power Nigeria 2014 Conference in Lagos on Tuesday, said electricity supply would improve in the next few months.

“We don’t want to see any increase in tariff until power generation and distribution increase, because people want to see electricity. We are talking of megawatts, the person in the village doesn’t care about megawatts. 

 What he or she cares about is electricity,” he said.

Power generation as of Monday, October 27, stood at 3,747.08MW, while 3,667.46MW was sent out, according to data obtained from the Power ministry.

Generation capacity was said to have recently dropped by 1,000MW as a result of sabotage of two major gas plants.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission had in May approved a new electricity tariff, which came into effect on June 1, with an increase in energy cost and reduction in fixed charges.

One of the major indices for the minor review was “available generation capacity,” NERC had said, adding that the gross available capacity from the grid as of the March 21, 2014 review date was 4,306MW, well below the 9,061MW that it had projected

The commission is currently carrying out the second phase of the yearly review of the electricity tariff, which is expected to be concluded soon.

“Yes, there will be adjustment if electricity stabilises and it is stabilising, and if we are able to go beyond what we are doing now, and it will in the next couple of months. And then, we will look at the whole thing and see what cost is reflective enough,” Nebo added.

The minister, however, said NERC would never allow any tariff that would be punitive against the customers.

“NERC will never do that. We just want a measurable tariff that will give a little bit of comfort to investors so that they can recoup their investments, make a little profit and continue to expand. But nobody is in a hurry to adjust the tariff at this moment,” he said.

Commenting on the issue of estimated billing, the minister noted that the metering gap in the country was so wide, with about eight million meters said to be needed in the next one or two years in order to bridge the gap.