Uche Cecil Izuora
The Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has been advised to consider review and approval of electricity tariffs to all 12 Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) simultaneously to continue to enjoy the confidence of all Nigerians as a transparent and impartial regulator.
An Abuja-based energy consultant, Engineer Dikedinigbo Ejike, stated this while speaking to newsmen on the new tariff structure NERC approved for Aba Power, Nigeria’s 12 DisCo, on December 30, 2024, but to take effect from January 2, 2025.
The NERC, according to the energy consultant, last April 3 approved a 300 per cent tariff increase for Band A customers in the other 11 DisCos who receive a minimum of 22 hours of electricity daily from N66 per kilowatt hour (kWh) to N225 kWh, however, it was later slashed to N209kWh.
However, “approval to Aba Power to adjust its tariff from N117kWh by 50 per cent for Band A customers was given only eight months later.
“No reason has been given officially for the two disparities in time and tariff”, observed Dike, a mechanical engineer who consults on both traditional and alternative sources of energy.
“NERC has been run professionally for most of its years of existence, and so should not give the impression that it favours some electricity companies more than others”.
He said that since Aba Power and the other DisCos operate in the same economic environment and under the same “law, rules and regulations, it should have been treated the same way as others for reasons of transparency, probity, and justice.
“Aba Power, which faced acute injustice under a previous government for two decades, must have lost a fortune by having its tariff approved almost a year later than those of its competitors who interestingly have been receiving subsidies worth trillions of naira since the privatization of the country’s 11 DisCos inherited from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in 2013)”.
Ejike argued that if NERC had approved the Aba Power new tariff alongside those of the other Discos last April 3, “communities, businesses, and individuals in the nine local government areas (LGAs) in Abia State covered by the country’s newest DisCo would not have spent so much money during Christmas and New Year without a provision for the new tariff, though it remains far the cheapest in Nigeria”.
He noted that the late approval of the new tariff for Aba Power DisCo almost on the last day of 2024 made it very difficult for the company to sensitize its customers on the increase.
“Aba Power had only two or three days to inform and enlighten its customers regarding the change”, he lamented. “And this was during the New Year holidays!”
Ejike, however, lauded Aba Power for becoming the first DisCo in Nigeria to provide uninterrupted power since last month.
“This firm, commissioned only last February 26”, he continued, “has demonstrated not just promise but also strength, despite the excruciating gas supply shortages it has experienced since commissioning”.