SAN FRANCISCO, November 02, (THEWILL) – The payment of the revised electricity tariffs took off yesterday with the Federal Government urging Nigerians to prepare for further price reviews, since pricing will in the future depend on market dynamics.
The Federal Government, through the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), had, on September 28 directed the suspension of the Service-Based Tariff structure, which was earlier approved for the Distribution Companies (Discos), following opposition from organised labour and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).
However, after negotiations with labour, the tariffs for customer categories D and E, with power supply lower than 12 hours daily, remain frozen, while band A will have a 10% reduction from the initial September 1 rate. Customers under band B will enjoy 10.5% reduction while those in band C will get up to 30% discount.
The government said its decision to pull the brakes on the decade-long subsidies will continue but that the discount will be funded by the Value Added Tax (VAT) mopped up during collection in the industry.
Some of the DisCos, including Abuja (AEDC) and Ikeja (IKEDC) have already alerted their customers on the resumption of the revised rates.
“This is to inform our customers that with effect from 1st November 2020, AEDC has effected a revised Service Reflective Tariff as approved by the regulatory agency. Customers on the prepaid platform will be the first to experience the revised tariff from Sunday, 1st November 2020, while the revised tariff will reflect in the bills for customers on the post-paid platform when they receive their electricity bill”, a statement from the AEDC stated.
On its part, a Tweeter statement on Sunday by the Ikeja Electric Plc (IE) said it has commenced implementation of the revised Service Reflective Tariff (SRT), as approved by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) effective Nov. 1.
IKEDC said “under the SRT, the tariff classification is based on the quality of service and therefore, divided into 5 Bands (A-E). This is measured by the average availability of power supply over a month, interruptions (frequency and duration), voltage levels and other service parameters.
“With the revised tariff regime, Non-MD customers in Band A, with a minimum of 20 hours daily will now pay N51.22/Kwh. Band B customers with a minimum of 16 hours daily will be charged N46.93/Kwh; while Band C customers with a minimum of 12 hours daily will be charged N37.95/Kwh.
“However, please note that customers in Bands D and E, with a minimum of eight hours and four hours per day, respectively, are not impacted by the tariff revision.”
According to the company, the SRT tariffs of the two bands have been frozen, and consequently, they will continue to be charged the old tariff prior to the introduction of the SRT. It said that prepaid meter customers in Bands A-C, who vend from Nov. 1 would be charged the new tariff while the same will be implemented for postpaid customers in these bands during the November billing cycle.
