February 27, (THEWILL) – The Federal Government has disclosed plans to restructure the current electricity tariff system to address wide inequalities between the bands, as well as the billing system.
Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja.
Last year, the Federal Government structured electricity tariffs into bands (A–E) to reflect the cost of power delivery.
Consumers in Band A enjoy a minimum of 20 hours of electricity per day, and Band B with minimum of 16 hours; customers in Band C were scheduled for a minimum of 12 hours, Band D with minimum of 8 hours and Band E with Minimum of 4 hours of electricity per day.
However, while those in Band A are charged N209 per kilowatt-hour, Band B pay N63 per kilowatt-hour
Speaking on Thursday at the public presentation of the National Integrated Electricity Policy and Nigeria Integrated Resource Plan, Adelabu highlighted the disparity among the Bands.
He described the billing system as “unfair” and stressed the need for a regularisation of the tariffs to create a more balanced and equitable pricing system.
Reiterating the government’s commitment to ensuring a fair and equitable tariff structure, the Minister said, “The gap between the Band A tariffs and Bands B, C, D, and E is just too wide. We believe it’s not fair. It is not just, and we must be able to carry out some level of regularisation.
“We will look at the tariff again. I am not saying that we’re going to increase the tariff before I am misquoted. We are going to look at it and see how we can improve upon our modest achievement of last year, not only to ensure that we grow the sector that we need but also to ensure that we can invest more in revamping all these dilapidated infrastructures.
“The migration to Band A should have been faster, but we found out that the DisCos refused to invest. They have refused to invest in this sector. A lot of investment is required for us to achieve an accelerated migration of lower-band customers into Band A. It is taking a lot of time.”
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