Executive Director of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Auwal Ibrahim Musa (Rafsanjani) at a partnership forum between the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) flayed NERC over excessive tariff charges coupled with irregular supply of electricity.
He therefore urged the NERC to ensure consumers are charged based on their utilities as there have been cries of unfair charges, adding that, “the citizens have been subjected to the payment of increased rates, adding to the existing suffering of the people.”
Recall that about 100 percent electricity tariff increase was announced by NERC earlier in May following the implementation of Multi Year Tariff Order 2 (MYTO 2) on June 1, 2012. Under MYTO 2, the tariff for 2013 rose to N12.58/Kwh for R2 customers (R.2 consumers are the residential consumers using single-face meter) while R.1 tariff remains at N4.00/Kwh.
But the NERC Chairman, Dr Sam Amadi, in his remarks explained that the increment was to ensure adequate power supply especially in this new private sector-led power era, noting that the cost would not be compared to the spending on alternative power supply systems.
He maintained that the forum was born out of a transparency effort especially on clearing the air on tariff increment and to create trust between the commission and its stakeholders.
A women leader and CSO advocate in Abuja, Mrs Lami John Garki in a sideline interview said, “electricity supply is very epileptic in many towns and villages, yet PHCN keeps charging high tariffs even for those that hardly consume much.” She stressed on the need to review the electricity tariff considering the plight of the common man.
In his presentation on MYTO, the DGM, Market Competition and Rates, Dr. Haliru Dikko noted that there are no plans to increase tariff.
