Nigerians will be paying more in electricity bills henceforth as the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has approved increase in electricity tarriff by the 11 electricity distribution companies (DisCos) in the country.
The directive of the new tarriff for different DisCos and category of customers was published on NERC website on Saturday.
The document was signed by the NERC chairman, Prof. James Momoh, and Secretary, Dafe Akpedeye.
The commission said that the order superceded the earlier one issued on the subject matter, and “the new tariff regime takes effect from January 1, 2020.”
NERC said the order had taken into consideration, other actual changes in relevant macroeconomic variables and available generation capacity as at October, 31, 2019.
It also said the order was in line with updating the Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO) operating – 2015 Tariff Order for 2019 in line with the provisions of the amended MYTO Methodology.
“Projections are made for the variables for year 2020 and beyond based on the best available information,” the document said.
“The commission, however, based adjustments in the tariff, on the relevant data obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) such as average monthly inflation rate of 11.3 per cent, exchange rate of N309.97.”
According to the publication, for the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) residential customers R3 that were paying N27.20 per unit are to now pay N47.09.
NERC said the customers are now to pay N19.89 more per unit representing 236.75 per cent increase.
“The commercial customers C3 that paid N27.20 per unit in 2015, when the tariff was last adjusted and implemented are now to pay N47.09 in 2020,” it said.
The commission said that for the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company’s customers, the R3 category that were formerly paying N26.50 per unit is to now pay N36.92 per unit.
The customers are, therefore, to pay additional N10.02 per unit, representing 368.49 per cent increase.
“The commercial customers C3 that paid N24.63 per unit in 2015 are to now pay N38.14 per unit.
“The customers are to pay additional N13.51 per unit representing 282.30 percent.
“The industrial customers of the IKEDC D3 that paid N25.82 per unit are now to pay N35.85 per unit.
“The difference is now the additional 10.03 per unit, representing an increase of 357.42 percent,” the document said.
The move is expected to draw widespread criticism as Nigerians grapple with fewer nairas in their pockets coupled with rising inflation.
NERC, however, added that Enugu Electricity Distribution Company residential (R3) customers that were paying N27.11 per unit in 2015 are to now pay N48.12 per unit.
The customers are to pay additional N21.01 per unit, which translates to 229.03 percent.
The commission directed that “all DisCos are obligated to settle their market invoices in full as adjusted and netted off by the applicable tariff shortfall.
