Hard times awaits Nigerians as NERC orders DisCos to hike electricity tariff

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has directed all electricity distribution companies (DisCos) to increase their tariff from January 1.
The directive was communicated to DisCos via a memo to jointly signed by James Momoh, NERC chairman and Dafe Akpeneye, its secretary.
The commission had published the new tariffs for the different DisCos and categories of customers on its website via an order dated December 31.
According the order, the new tariff was reached based on data obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the US rate of inflation.
The commission said the order supersedes “other orders issued on the subject matter and shall take effect from 1st January 2020 and shall have effect on the issuance of a new Minor Review Order or an Extraordinary Tariff Review Order by the NERC.”
According to the new tariff, Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) residential customers R3 that were paying N27.20 per unit will now pay N47.09.
For the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) customers, the R3 category paying N26.50 per unit will now pay N36.92 per unit.
An increase was also recorded in the commercial customers C3 category that paid N24.63 per unit in 2015. They are now expected to pay N38.14 per unit.
The industrial customers of the IKEDC D3 category who paid N25.82 per unit, the charges have been increased to N35.85 per unit.
Enugu Electricity Distribution Company residential (R3) customers who were paying N27.11 per unit in 2015 are to now pay N48.12 per unit.
The commission also directed the DisCos to complete settlement of market invoices.
“All DisCos are obligated to settle their market invoices in full as adjusted and netted off by the applicable tariff shortfall,” it read.
“In the determination for compliance to the minimum remittance threshold in this Order, the commission shall consider verified receivables from MDAs for the settlement period and DisCos’ historical collection efficiency for MDAs.
“The commission shall hold the TCN responsible for deviation from the economic dispatch Order that adversely impact on the base weighed average cost of the wholesale of energy.”
NERC last approved an upward review of tariff in July.