Electricity Supply to Get New Face as FG Set to Review Tariff For Band B, C Customers

Israel Adeleke

OPEN TELEVISION NAIJA (OTN) News reports that the Federal Government on Thursday, announced plans to regularise electricity tariffs in a bid to address disparities in the current billing system as well as encourage investment in the power sector.

OTN News further reports that this new development was disclosed by the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, who made this known at the ongoing public presentation of the National Integrated Electricity Policy and Nigeria Integrated Resource Plan in Abuja.

According to him, he said that the government is considering this option over the slow pace of migration to Band A customers, which he attributed to the reluctance of Distribution Companies to make the necessary investments.

Adelabu further explained that under the current structure, customers in Band B, who enjoy 18 to 17 hours of electricity supply, pay N63 per kilowatt-hour, while those in Band A, with only two hours more of supply, are charged N209 per kilowatt-hour.

He described this as “unfair” and stressed the need for a regularisation of the tariffs to create a more balanced and equitable pricing system.

The minister said, “We will look at the tariff again. I am not saying that we’re going to increase the tariff before I am misquoted.

“We are going to look at it and see how we can improve upon our modest achievement of last year, not only to ensure that we grow the sector that we need but also to ensure that we can invest more in revamping all these dilapidated infrastructures.”

“The migration to Band A should have been faster, but we found out that the DisCos refuse to invest. They have refused to invest in this sector.

“A lot of investment is required for us to achieve an accelerated migration of lower-band customers into Band A. It is taking a lot of time.” Adelabu added.

Meanwhile, the government is considering restructuring the tariff bands, reducing the current wide gap between them, in response to this disturbing issue.

“The gap between the Band A tariffs and Bands B, C, D, and E is just too wide,” he said. “We believe it’s not fair. It is not just, and we must be able to carry out some level of regularisation.”

He however, said that the government is committed to reviewing the existing tariff structure, although he was quick to clarify that the review does not imply an imminent increase in rates.