The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has secretly given six of the 11 electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs) the approval to increase tariff rates beginning from February 2022.
The government authorised the rise, which has since come into effect, without informing Nigerians.
The regulator claimed its decision was necessary considering increase in performance of improvement plans of the DISCOs, the NATION reported Thursday, citing a NERC memo.
The document jointly signed by the NERC chairman, Sanusi Garba, and the vice chairman Musiliu Oseni was issued on December 29, 2021.
The increase took effect February, three months ago.
The companies are Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC), Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDC), Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (KEDC).
Others are Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC), Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) and Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC).
NERC said it considered other factors such as gas price, inflation, exchange rate, and available generation capacity before increasing the tariff.
The document said consumers who bought power at N50.72/kWh in January 2022 were to pay N54.22/kWh from February.
Those who bought at N56.16/kWh in January 2022 were to pay N60.67/kWh, while those who paid N56.64/kWh in January 2022 were made to pay N59.64/kWh.
“Consequently, following the approval of PHED’s PIP on 30th April 2021, the Commission issued the MYTO-2021 Extraordinary Tariff Order effective from 1st July 2021 in consideration on PHED’s CAPEX proposals over a 5-year plan in line with the approved PIP,” the document said.
“Accordingly, this MYTO-2022 order restates PHED’s approved 5-year CAPEX and relevant assumptions applied to forecast revenue requirements and applicable tariffs for the period 2021-2026 in line with MYTO Methodology and Regulations Procedure for Electricity Tariff Reviews in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI),” it said.
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