No going back on new electricity tariff-Discos

DESPITE public outcry against a new electricity tariff regime which is set to take effect today, distribution companies across the country have said there was no going back on its implementation.

Recall that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Com­mission (NERC) had on De­cember 20, last year, rolled out a new tariff regime under its MYTO 2.1 for residential and industrial consumers, just as it equally abolished fixed charges.

Under the new tariff an­nounced by NERC, R2 cus­tomers covered by the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) who cur­rently pay N13.91 per kilo­watt-hour (kWh) will wit­ness an increase by N9.60.

Consumers under the Eko and Ikeja electricity distribu­tion areas who currently pay N12.87kWh and N13.61 kWh respectively will wit­ness a N10 and N8 increase respectively in their energy charges.

Electricity consumers cov­ered by Kaduna and Benin Discos who currently pay N16.90 kWh and N12.54 kWh will witness an increase of N11.05 and N9.26 respec­tively in their energy charges.

For commercial consum­ers in Ibadan and Enugu who currently pay N25.18 kWh and N24.01 kWh respec­tively, their energy charges will increase by N12.08 and N13.35 respectively. But the Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, Association of Nigerian Electricity Dis­tributors (ANED), Mr. Sun­day Oduntan, explained at the weekend that power sec­tor growth would have re­mained elusive under the old tariff structure.

He said that the old tariff was not cost reflective, hence the operations of the Discos were almost grinding to a halt before the intervention of NERC with the new tariff structure, which, he said, was the only way to ensure that they remained in business.

Oduntan lamented that some Nigerians were not en­lightened enough to see the good intention behind tariff review, saying any attempt by consumers and other stakeholders alike to resist the implementation, is akin to returning the power sector to dark ages.

He hinted that, contrary to the belief that tariffs will continue to escalate, consumers, he said, will begin to heave a sigh of relief from the third year of the implementation of MYTO 2.1 because tariff rates, would begin to drop, because of improvements in power infrastructure across the power sector value chain, which included; generation, transmission and distribution

And to move the sector forward, the ANED helmsman, urged those that have litigation against the implementation of the new tariff regime to have a rethink and withdraw such cases, which he described as frivolous.

He noted further that contrary to the belief that Discos were making a lot of profit without the commensurate level of service, only 25 percent of revenue generated ends up with the Discos, with generation companies taking 60 percent, transmission 11 percent and another 4 percent to NERC and Nige­ria Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET).

THE SUN