Don't worry Nigerians, electricity tariff increase has been suspended

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has ordered Distribution Companies (DisCos) to shelve a planned hike in tariff scheduled to kick off on April 1, 2020.

In a memo made available to Pulse, NERC said old tariffs will remain in “force until June 2020 when a new Minor Review Order shall be issued by the Commission.”

DisCos were also directed to “submit a detailed plan for the attainment of full recovery of prudent costs..all future tariff reviews shall be on the basis of consultations between the DisCo and customer clusters with firm commitments on rates and quality of service.

“The service level compact shall include a compensation mechanism for end-use customers to address the DisCos’ failure events (sic) to deliver on performance targets.”

NERC memo to DisCos NERC memo to DisCos Pulse Nigeria

NERC directed DisCos to provide customers with smart meters.

A chunk of electricity consumers in Nigeria are still being billed through estimates, a system which breeds corruption and is open to manipulation.

“All Discos are hereby directed to, no later than 30 June 2020, provide smart meters of 11kv and 33kv feeders level with the capability of sending real time or near real time data to the Commission," NERC wrote.

With electricity providers often complaining that they have been selling themselves short without making a profit, NERC said “the federal government of Nigeria shall provide tariff support during the transitional period of full revenue recovery ending on June 30, 2021 based on the under-recovery of the revenue requirement determined.”