President Muhammadu Buhari in an effort to end estimated and arbitrary billing for electricity has ordered the commencement of a nationwide mass-metering programme.
The Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), James Momoh, in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja, made it known that the president also approved a waiver of the import levy on meters so as to enable those who don’t have to get it at a reasonable amount.
According to the chairman’s explanation, the tariff reviews would only follow service-based principles.
“Under these service-based principles Distribution Companies (DISCOs) will only be able to review tariff rates for customers when they consult with customers, commit to increasing the number of hours of supply per day and quality of service.
“In all cases poor and vulnerable Nigerians will not experience any increase; in line with these expectations, DISCOs are directed to engage with their customers on a Service Based Tariff structure.
“Under the Service Based Tariff Structure, DISCOs can only review tariffs for customers under the following conditions:
“Customers are consulted and communicated a guaranteed level of electricity service by the DISCOs based on hours of supply.
“No estimated billing through the strict enforcement of the capping regulation; this means that unmetered customers will not experience any cost increase beyond what is chargeable to metered customers in the same area.”
In the above mentioned conditions, he said there would be no change in tariff for the most vulnerable as tariffs for those consuming 50KW or less remained frozen.
Mr Momoh urged the public and all stakeholders in the power sector to disregard any reports of an arbitrary tariff increase affecting Nigerians.
According to Mr Momoh, customers receiving less than 12 hours of supply will also not experience any change in tariffs.
(NAN)
