The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC declared on Wednesday that its customers’ electricity rates would now be N255 per kilowatt instead of N66.
Musliu Oseni, the Vice Chairman of NERC, revealed the 241% increase during a press briefing in Abuja. He clarified that the increase will affect Band A consumers who receive 20 hours of electricity from discos.
According to him, the Band-A customers represent 15 per cent of the 12 million electricity customers in the country.
He said, “We currently have 800 feeders categorised as Band A, but it will now be reduced to under 500 due to non-fulfilment of the required hours of electricity provided by the electricity distribution company.
“This means that 17 per cent now qualify as Band A feeders.
“These feeders only service 15 per cent of total electricity customers connected to the feeders and in that order, the Commission has approved a rate review of 225 mph for the 15 per cent of the customer population in NERC.
“In line with the April supplementary order and the commission allows a 235 kilowatt per hour, the review takes effect today.”
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Oseni noted that the review was strictly for the Band A customers and not customers classified as back-end customers.
“Many of the customers classified as back-end customers will not be affected”, according to him.
Giving reasons, he said the majority of back-end customers will not be affected, as the review is based on infrastructural development along the Band A region, which results in high consumption of electricity.
“When you look at the state of infrastructure of NESI, the quality of infrastructure varies from one location to the other.
“There are certain locations without any additional investments, the distribution companies are also the transmission companies based on the investment previously made to deliver a minimum of 20 hours a day.
“But in some locations, there will be a need for improvement in the quality of the infrastructure before the quality of supply can improve”.
He reaffirmed that consumers on the other Bands will not be impacted by the review, although they will not receive 20 hours of service.
