No going back on new electricity tariffs by Monday – NERC

The Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has reminded Nigerians that the new tariffs approved for electricity consumers across the country will become effective on Monday, February 1, stressing that the new regime will enable the power distribution, generation and transmission companies to acquire needed infrastructure.

Acting Chairman of the commission, Dr. Anthony Akah disclosed this on Thursday when he led top executives of the regulatory agency on a courtesy call on the National Orientation Agency in Abuja, insisting that there was no going back on the new tariffs.

While observing that the lack of cost-reflective tariffs had hindered the electricity companies from acquiring the necessary infrastructure, the NERC boss stated that with the new tariffs, they would not have any excuse for not delivering on agreements they entered into with the government.

He said the Nigerian power sector reform must provide an appropriate pricing template, which had been lacking, leading to deficiency in revenues from power.

Akah added that this necessitated the new Multi-Year Tariff Order, MYTO, to enable the generating, transmission and distribution companies to provide the needed infrastructure for higher generation and supply of electricity to meet the needs of consumers.

He explained that under the new MYTO, all premises must be metered and consumers who subscribe to specific metering models must be supplied meters within 60 days after which they would not be disconnected or charged on estimation if a meter was not supplied.

While noting that a Power Consumer Assistance Fund, PCAF, had been put in place to cater for the electricity needs of the less-privileged in the country, the NERC boss stated that the visit was part of the establishment of a coordinated approach to creating public awareness ahead of the February 1 implementation date of the new MYTO.