By Joe Udo
ABUJA (CONVERSEER) – Two years after the Federal Government increased electricity tariffs for Band A customers, promising a minimum of 20 hours of daily supply, many consumers say the expected improvements have not materialised.
The tariff hike, announced in April 2024, saw rates jump from N68 to N225 per kilowatt-hour, a move authorities argued was necessary to stabilise the power sector and attract investment. The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, had justified the increase, warning of a potential collapse of the sector without urgent reforms.
“The entire sector will be grounded if we don’t increase the tariff. With what we have now in the next three months, the entire country will be in darkness if we don’t increase tariffs. The increment will catapult us to the next level. We are also Nigerians; we are also feeling the impact. For this sector to be revived, the government needs to spend nothing less than $10 billion annually in the next 10 years. This is because of the infrastructure requirement for the stability of the sector. But the government cannot afford that. So we must make this sector attractive to investors and to lenders. For us to attract investors and investments, we must make the sector attractive. And the only way it can be made attractive is that there must be commercial pricing. If the value is still at N66 and the government is not paying subsidy, the investors will not come. But now that we have increased the tariff for A Band, there are interests being shown by investors,” Adelabu had said.
However, several customers in Abuja have described worsening supply conditions despite the higher tariffs. Salisu Adam said his company’s electricity bill rose from N4 million to N25 million monthly, even as supply dropped significantly.
“We wrote to the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) to remove us from the band as we were only paying for the services they did not provide, but the request was turned down. The minister had claimed that Band A customers would pay less for diesel due the availability of the minimum amount of electricity, but it is all a lie. The problem of low supply started since November and it has forced the company to spend millions more on diesel, not that we stopped buying. Now, we are at the worst stage as the maximum supply we get is 10 hours. The US-Iran war has led to the increase in all petroleum products, so we pay more and consume more diesel,” Adam said.
Bassey Edem from Calabar said, “Few months ago, PHED came and installed metres and told us we’ve been moved to Band A with a tariff of over 500% increase. As I am talking to you now, we barely get power for 8 hours a day, and some days we don’t even have light. They said it’s National Grid. Now, why not take us to Band C or D, since that’s the threshold you’re supply, and then you can put us back in Band A when the power stabilises. No, they don’t care, we are still paying high for what we are not using. Sadly, Nigeria is becoming a hell.”
Other residents, including Rasheeda Dahiru and Daniel Oguche, also lamented poor supply, job losses, and increased reliance on generators, describing the Band A service as inadequate and burdensome.
