Findings have shown that electricity tariffs increased by 58% after the Federal Government yanked off a yearly subsidy of N500bn to the power sector.
The document titled, ‘Analysis of the Commercial KPIs for ANED ́s Members/2021’; Which is the latest report by the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors; said with the effective implementation of the Service Based Tariff in November 2020. Hence, electricity tariffs have increased by N18/kWh since the subsidy removal.
Electricity consumers with prepaid metres have also lamented reduction in electricity units received from DisCos. The DisCos had, earlier in the year, sent out migration links to customers.
However, an observation of the graphical representation of tariff movement presented by the association showed that while the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry; NESI’s cost of the service had grown from N1.15trn in 2019 up to N1.8trn in 2021. NESI’s cost-reflective tariff in 2021 was 5 N/kWh cheaper than in 2019.
The DisCos had, for several years, clamoured for cost-reflective tariffs. The Federal Government had, some time ago, mopped up customers tariff debts to the DisCos.
Spokesperson for IKEDC, Felix Ofulue, also told The Punch that the Federal Government had been stepping in; with various interventions to the power sector through the Central Bank of Nigeria.
An increase in tariffs cumulates in equally increased revenue for the DisCos.
Petroleum Engineer and Technical Director-Drill Bits, Bala Zaka, confirmed the reduction in electricity units from DisCos to customers since last year.
He added that lack of electricity could lead to break down in economic growth.
Metering expert and Accountant, Olusesan Okunade, told The PUNCH that the cost-reflective tariff was the reason for some of the increase in tariffs.
-Reuters.
