FG Gives Fresh Details on Alleged Plan to Hike Electricity Tariff
- Sale Mamman, the minister of power, has said that the federal government is not proposing to hike the electricity tariff
- There has been rumour that the tariff may be increased any moment from now
- Mamman, however, said that Nigerians should expect an increase in efficiency of the power sector
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The federal government has dismissed claims of a looming major hike in electricity tariffs in the country.
Daily Trust reports that the minister of power, Sale Mamman, who made this known, in a statement issued in Abuja, on Saturday, May 1, said there is no plan to significantly raise the tariff.
Source: Twitter
Legit.ng gathered that the minister noted that instead of a significant hike in electricity tariff, Nigerians should expect an increase in efficiency of the power sector to reduce tariffs while managing headwinds from foreign exchange and inflation.
The Nation also reports that clarification came amid reports of a possible major increase in the price of electricity.
Mamman explained that the order issued by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on April 26, announcing tariff reviews, was a routine procedure for the Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO) done every six months.
He said:
“The tariff for customers on service bands D & E (customers being served less than an average of 12 hours of supply per day over a period of one month) remains subsidised in line with the policy direction of the federal government.”
The minister said the government was committed to increasing supplied energy to the grid through the rapid expansion of infrastructure through the various facilities for the sector.
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that the federal government asked the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to revert back to the old electricity tariffs.
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It was reported that this was contained in a statement issued by the minister of power, Engineer Saleh Mamman on Thursday, January 7. The minister's direct intervention later doused the tension the news generated in the period.
In a related report, NERC said that a new electricity tariff may be announced for Nigerians, adding that plans were already underway to review tariffs that customers pay.
The NERC said the tariff review was a result of changes in inflation, foreign exchange, gas prices, available generation capacity and capital expenditure.
The commission noted that it would also consider the capital expenditure required to evacuate and distribute the said available generation capacity in accordance with the power sector Act and other extant industry rules.
Source: Legit.ng
