Electricity consumers begin payment of revised tariffs

The revised tariffs are based on the decision of the technical committee set up to review the September 1 cost-reflective tariffs, whose implementation was temporarily halted after organised Labour threatened nationwide strike.

The Committee is headed by Minister of State for Labour and Employment Festus Keyamo. Labour is represented on the panel by Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Deputy President Joe Ajaero.

The controversial September 1 tariffs have now been slashed with discounts granted.

Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) Chairman Prof. James Momoh, confirmed that the Commission had approved a new Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO) review for the 11 DisCos.

The new regime of tariffs grants discounts as follows: Band category C 31 per cent, Band B 10.5 per cent and Band A 10 per cent.

According to him, the Review Committee met till 3.00am on Saturday, where it was agreed that the agreed terms should take effect from yesterday.

The NERC boss said Bands E and D are frozen.

Momoh said: “We signed off on it yesterday (Saturday). It has been done the way the people on the government side and the labour unions side agreed.

“We have just written it in a very clear term so that the DisCos will understand their responsibilities, and customers will gain access to it and know that this is the agreed position. They should know that this is the position signed-off yesterday (Saturday) to take effect from November 1.

Giving a breakdown of how consumers will pay, the Ikeja Electricity said last night: “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 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.

“Customers in Bands D and E, with minimum of eight hours and four hours per day, respectively, are not impacted by the tariff revision. Their SRT tariffs have been frozen and consequently, they will continue to be charged the old tariff prior to the introduction of the SRT.

“Prepaid Meter customers in Bands A – C, who vend from November 1, 2020 will be charged the new tariff while same will be implemented for Postpaid customers in these bands, during the November billing cycle.”

Other Discos yesterday announced the commencement of the agreed new tariffs.

The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) said  with effect from 1st November 2020, AEDC had effected a revised Service Reflective Tariff as approved by the regulatory agency.

“Customers on the pre-paid platform will be the first to experience the revised tariff when they vend from Sunday, 1st November  2020, while the revised tariff will reflect in the bills for customers on the postpaid platform when they receive their electricity bill.

“The tariff is divided into 5 Bands and based on hours of supply to the customers. While customers on Bands D & E have their tariff frozen, those on Bands A, B & C will see some level of reduction in their tariff as they vend.

“AEDC assures her customers that it will, in line with the spirit and letter of the service reflective tariff, ensure that all customers receive quality service. We are also committed to the improvement of service to customers in all our franchise area.

‘We, however, appeal to customers to please see this tariff regime as an opportunity for them to join hands with AEDC to speed up the process of improving the quality of service in the Nigerian power sector.”

The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO), the Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC), the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) – all said they had commence implementation of the revised tariffs.

But the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC), said it was yet to revert to the new price. Its spokesman Busolami Tunwase said customers will be notified “when we want to commence”.

General Manager, Corporate Communications, Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), Godwin Idemudia, said: “When we were told to revert to the previous tariff, we complied. So if there is a new directive to implement another tariff rate, we have no choice than to comply.”

NLC confirmed that the revised rates were agreed upon . NLC Deputy President Ajaero who is also General Secretary, National Union of Electricity Employees, however warned that should power Distribution Companies refuse to reflect what was agreed at the last meeting between labour and government, “it means that negotiations have collapsed”.

He said: “If they say they are going to implement what we agreed it is not a story but if they are say they are going to do another thing, by the time they do it, you should expect a reaction from labour. That one doesn’t require any consultation here and there. They will get it.

“Let us watch them to now go contrary to the interim report but that one is still interim because we want to get to the root of all this. Should they go and refuse to reflect what we have agreed so. We will go back to the position pre-discussion with government.”