New Hike In Tarrif Affects Only 1.2 Customers - Adelabu

Adelabu 

By Favour Ifeoluwa & Akinola Ajibade

The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu says the new electricity tarif hike would affect only 1.2 million out of 12million consumers in the sector..

This is coming days after the Federal Government announced hike in tarif for consumers ón Band 'A' to N225 per kilowatt, since they are mostly in high income bracket.  The government made the announcement on April 4th, this year.

Speaking on Channels Television''s Politics Today recently, Adelabu said that the new tariff imposed on electricity consumers is flexible as it is capable of changing with time.

According to him, the statement made by him that consumers should manage consumption of electricity well was not meant to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians in any form, as misinterpreted by a section of the populace, but to ensure proper usage of power and bills. 

“The statement was a piece of innocent advice about energy consumption management which we believe will go a long way in reducing people’s energy bills. And that advice was directed at those that we believe that because of the recent increase in tariff will start enjoying 20 hours of power per day,” he saidd.

He said that the tariff is flexible, stating that if the Naira gains more and the exchange rate comes down to below N1000, it must positively affect tariff and the tariff even for Band A will come below the N225 kilowatts per hour currently being charged

“The tariff is flexible and I can tell you that even if the Naira gains more and the exchange rate comes down below N1,000, it must positively affect the tariff and the tariff even for the Band A will come to down below the N225 kilowatt per hour that we are currently charging,” he added.

On foreign exchange, the Minister noted that Naira appreciates against the United States dollar in the last few weeks, stressing that electricity tariff paid by Nigerians should moderate positively.

According to the minister, the tariff is flexible, stating that if the Naira gains more and the exchange rate comes down to below N1000, it must positively affect tariff and the tariff even for Band A will come below the N225 kilowatts per hour currently being charged.

“The tariff is flexible and I can tell you that even if the Naira gains more and the exchange rate comes down below N1,000, it must positively affect the tariff and the tariff even for the Band A will come to down below the N225 kilowatt per hour that we are currently charging,” he said.

Adelabu, however said that the tariff for Band A, which is 15% of the total consumers will increase by over 200%, does not necessarily translate into a 200% increase in their electricity bill if power is properly managed in terms of consumption.”

He passured Band A customers of value for their money. He also assured Nigerians that consumers on other bands won’t be shortchanged by distribution companies as the regulators won’t hesitate to wield their big stick on any of such discos.

The minister further said the government has been working on ramping up power generation from about 4,000 megawatts to 6,000 megawatts in the next six months. He said 25% of Nigeria’s power generation is from hydroelectric power while the remaining 75% is from gas plants.

He said “the gas that is supposed to be the raw material has not been coming in adequate proportion” but the government has been working with electricity generation companies to ramp up power generated for the benefit of Nigerians.

He is however, optimistic that the plans by President Bola Tinubu administration  to decentralise power generation across states of the federation and strengthen transmission and distribution of the energy to power Nigeria’s industrial transformation would assist in growing the nation's economy greatly.