Nigerians being unfairly treated – Dogara condemns increment of electricity tariff

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Yakubu Dogara, says the House is concerned about the seeming injustice to the Nigerian public through continous increment of electricity tariff, after the federal government bailed the energy sector with a whooping sum of N123 billion.

Speaking on Monday at a public hearing organised by the House Ad-Hoc Committee To Interface With the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and other stakeholders “to examine and re-assess all inputs and assumptions in the Multi-Year Tariff-Order (MYTO) system in our electricity industry in Nigeria, the speaker said the probe is aimed at putting an end to the trend.”

He said: “There has been a prolonged public outcry over the continuous increase in the unit price of electricity, which many believe is not in tandem with the current realities in electricity supply.

“The tariff has continued to increase from an average of N10 per kw/h in 2007 to an average of N24.20 kw/h in 2017 without substantial improvement in power supply. Despite, the 123 billion Naira Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilization Fund (NEMSF) provided by the Federal government as subsidy to the Sector operators, the situation still remains unpleasant.

“The House is concerned about the seeming injustice to the Nigerian public, and wishes to examine the possibility of redressing the trend.

“It is needless to say that adequate electricity supply in our country will stimulate economic activities and reduce unemployment, which will invariably ameliorate youth restiveness and the high crime rate.

“As stakeholders, we must all join hands to find a lasting solution the challenge of unstable electricity supply in the country, and in particular, the issue of excessive electricity tariff that seems to be incongruous with the quality and quantity of electricity supplied”.

The lawmaker charged the committee and stakeholders to come up with a draft realistic tariff regime that will address public outcry against the current tariff system.

Dogara added: “The Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO) methodology was designed to provide correct pricing of electricity, taking into consideration the key principles of cost reflectivity, affordability, incentives for efficient operations and other assumptions such as price escalators, model building blocks/parametres, etc.

“It is needless to say that adequate electricity supply in our country will stimulate economic activities and reduce unemployment, which will invariably ameliorate youth restiveness and the high crime rate.

“As stakeholders, we must all join hands to find a lasting solution the challenge of unstable electricity supply in the country, and in particular, the issue of excessive electricity tariff that seems to be incongruous with the quality and quantity of electricity supplied.”