Electricity Tariff Hike Unjustifiable, Says Consumer Group
The recent hike in electricity tariff for customers in Band A by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, was Wednesday rejected by the Electricity Consumer Protection Centre, which held that it was unjustifiable given the poor performance of electricity distribution companies, DisCos, in the past.
NERC had last week approved a 230 percent increase for about two million customers across the country, assuring them of at least 20 hours power supply daily.
But the Consumer Group said past tariff increases had never led to improved electricity supply in the country.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja, the Executive Director, Electricity Consumer Protection Centre, Chief Princewill Okorie said it was wrong for the Federal Government to continue to approve tariff increases for the DisCos when consumers have never had improved supplies for monies invested in the sector.
Chief Okorie noted that the government needs to keep control over pricing in the sector since the operators have shown little interest in putting money into improving infrastructure and networks.
According to him, “there are fundamental problems in the sector that the government needs to fix before talking of any tariff increase. We don’t look at the issues of implementation and enforcement. The power sector is very fundamental to the social and economic development of this nation.
“Nigeria is a signatory to the United Nations convention on human, social, cultural and political rights, and also Section 34 (1) of Nigeria’s Constitution is against torture, inhuman and degrading treatment. And from the way Nigerians are being treated today in the power sector, it is clear that they are being tortured, dehumanised and treated without respect.
“The increase in tariff is not justified and we reject it”, he stressed.
He called for a probe into how DisCos spend the operations expenditures (OPEX) and capital expenditure (CAPEX) provided for them in the tariff order, stating that over the years consumers have continued to provide poles, transformers and cable without being reimbursed by the utilities.
He pointed out that while budgets for OPEX and CAPEX have continued to increase, transparency in the expenditures has dwindled.
He noted that the crisis in Eko DisCo was particularly of interest where “the utility continues to pay ghost workers and the cost is transferred to the consumers as part of OPEX allowed in the tariff order”.
He added: “In the light of the above, we have observed that while DisCos are complaining of inadequate tariff and go to Nigerian Electricity and Regulatory Commission to increase tariff, suffering consumers are forced to pay in the existing monopolistic power sector privatization.
“It is inhuman and unconscionable to obscure the level of financial rascality and imprudence exhibited by the management Board of Eko Disco in the N96 billion loan given to DisCos for the National Mass metering program in 2020 is yet to be accounted for”.
