Most Nigerians are not affected by the new electricity tariff, as the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu explained to the Nigerian Senate on Monday.
According to the minister, customers not currently enjoying 20 hours of electricity will not pay the new tariff.
The minister stated this on Monday while appearing before the Senate Committee on Power, for a one-day investigative hearing on the need to halt the proposed increase in electricity tariff by eleven successor electricity distribution companies amid the biting economic situation in Nigeria.
According to him, the government had introduced a new policy to save the drowning sector, assuring Nigerians that the pains were temporary.
The clarification comes as electricity consumers grapple with the recent increase in tariffs by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
The minister also stated that the Federal Government would pay the sum of ₦2.9 trillion to subsidise electricity this year if the tariff was not reviewed.
He also explained that the government was concerned, and had introduced the new policy to rescue the sector.
Adelabu
During the session, Chairman of the committee, Senator Eyinnnaya Abaribe raised the question of how customers were migrated from the previous customer classes of Residential (R1, R2, R3), Commercial (C1, C2) and Demand (D1, D2), to different bands.
Abaribe requested to know if the band classification was under the provisions of the law.
He also raised more questions on how the parameters differentiate between regions and areas, citing a portion of the act that highlighted the need for non-discriminatory distribution.
The development comes on the heels of the recent increase in electricity tariffs for consumers in the Band A category by NERC.
The commission had increased the tariff paid by Band A customers from N68/KWh to N225/kWh.
Band A customers receive 20-24 hours of electricity supply daily. Subscribers under Band B enjoy 16 to 20 hours of power supply, while those in Band C receive 12 to 16 hours daily.
However, less than 10% of Nigerian citizens and businesses get 20 hours electricity in a day. Checks by The Nigerian Economy showed that only about 15% of electricity consumers are on the Band A service.
The NERC had on April 3 announced the tariff increment for Band A power consumers from N68 to N225 per kilowatt-hour with immediate effect.
The Ministry of Information and Orientation had earlier in the month released a statement indicating that only 15% of electricity consumers are on the Band A service.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said 85 per cent of the Nigerian population who fall under different categorisations of the new electricity supply regime still enjoy the subsidy.
According to the statement, the minister spoke as a guest of the popular Hausa audience participatory programme of Radio Nigeria Kaduna called “Hannu Da Yawa” in Kaduna.
He had said that the disproportionate amount of electricity subsidy, approximately 40 per cent, was benefiting only about 15 per cent of the electricity consumer population, comprising affluent individuals and industrial clusters, who enjoy about 20 hours of electricity.
