NERC suspends electricity bill increment till July
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) said on Tuesday that it has put on hold the puported increase in electricity tariff for end-use customers until July.
NERC chairman James Momoh, in an order released on Tuesday, also directed all distribution companies to submit a detailed plan for the attainment of full recovery of prudent costs and allowed return on capital revenue requirements by 30 June 2021.
The revenue recovery and financial sustainability plans shall be submitted to the Commission no later than 21 April 2020. The plans shall include a path, with timelines, for transiting customers to a higher quality of service.
NERC also directed the DisCos to submit revised Performance Improvement Plans based on the key objective of improvement in service for and use customers and transiting to full revenue recovery no later than 21 April 2020.
According to the commission, the approved plans shall form the basis for future tariff reviews and full recovery.
“All future tariff reviews shall be on the basis of consultations between the Disco and customer clusters with firm commitments on rates and quality of service. The service level compact shall include a compensation mechanism for end-use customers to address the Disco’s failure events to deliver on performance forges.
“All Discos shall be required to disaggregate their respective service areas and/or customers in accordance with the quality of service and supported by the proposal for service reflective tariff classes that shall be graduated by quality of service,” NERC stated in the report.
NERC further directed all the distribution companies to, no later than 30 June 2020, provide smart meters at 11kV and 33kV feeders level with the capability of sending real-time or near real-time data to the Commission.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria shall provide full support during the transitional period to full revenue recovery ending on June 30, 2021, based on the under-recovery of the revenue requirement determined,” the order stated.
Stakeholders described the increment as one of the most callous decisions in the face of epileptic power supply as well as lockdown of economic activities and the many implications of the Coronavirus outbreak.
