Nigerians to pay more for Electricity – NERC. Here we go again.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on Monday announced an increase in electricity tariff by between N1 and N5.

NERC Chairman, Dr Sam Amadi, told a news conference in Abuja that the new tariff would take effect from June 1 as provided for in the Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO).

He said with the review, most electricity distribution companies (DISCOs) will retain the N750 fixed charge.

He said that the MYTO provides for bi-annual reviews that take effect on June 1 and Dec. 1 to ensure that some critical and financial variables underlying electricity tariff in Nigeria were realistic, fair and current.

  “The present review shows certain significant changes. For instance, whilst MYTO had projected inflation rate of 13 per cent, the inflation as at March 30, is 7.8 per cent which is 5.2 per cent less than projected,

“Similarly, MYTO projected an exchange rate of $1 to N178, but the March 30, 2014 data from the CBN shows a rate of N157.30 to $1, which is 11.6 per cent less than projected’’, he said.

Amadi also said that the new tariffs would not be equally served to consumers nationwide.

He said some parts of the country would have reduced tariffs and others with slight increase based on the population covered by each DISCO, amount of electricity allocated and facility available to each DISCO.

The NERC boss said that the review indicated a reduction of the wholesale tariff that would be paid to electricity generating companies (GENCOS) from June 1.

He also noted that the cost of the energy charge would have been much higher but for the good macroeconomics management that produced a real reduction in wholesale generation tariffs.

He said that if the review had not been carried out, the fixed charge would have increased from the current N750 to about N1,500.

Well, at least we have been having constant electricity to a large extent. Please no one should crucify me, am only speaking for my area oh.