The House of Representatives on Thursday condemned rising electricity tariff in the country.
This followed a motion by Rep. Shehu Musa (Bauchi-APC) on the “need to evaluate the multi-year tarried order system of electricity tariff in Nigeria.”
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The lawmakers said that the increase was unjustified considering the commitment of N213 billion to the operators in the power, who had failed to boost supply to Nigerians.
Musa recalled that in 2008, Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) adopted Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO) methodology to regulate electricity tariff and the tariff setting, in consultation with stakeholders, labour and consumers.
He said it was to provide correct pricing of electricity, taking into consideration the key principles of cost reflectivity, affordability, incentives for efficient operations and other assumptions, including tertiary rates, exchange rates, inflation, gas prices and subsidies.
According to him, the new tariff regime continues to increase from an average of N10 per kwh in 2007 to an average of N24.20 per Kwh in 2017 without significant improvement in power supply.
“We are concerned by the quantum of public outcry over the continuous increase in the price unit of electricity set under this new tariff regime.
“This is in spite of the N213 billion-Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilization Fund provided by the Federal government as subsidy to the industry operators.
“We should be concerned that even the presently fixed price unit of electricity is said to be under-priced and that plans are underway to gradually increase the tariff to cover full costs
“Equally of concern is that the tariff is not in tandem with economic realities of Nigeria, coupled with attendant hardships being experienced by Nigerians due to the collapse of small and medium-scale businesses and industries,” Musa said.
The motion was unanimously adopted when it was put to voice vote and an ad hoc committee was asked to interface with NERC and other stakeholders to critically evaluate the MYTO system.
Meanwhile. Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has advised Nigerians to accept the reality of increased electricity tariff.
He said the increment was effected so that Nigerians can enjoy reliable power supply.
The minister urged Nigerians to ask that meters be supplied instead of getting court injunctions against tariff review.