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Senate Gives DisCos Conditions For Tariff Hike Implementation
SENATE President Ahmad Lawan has said installation of functional meters for Nigerians by electricity distribution companies (DisCos) must be done before implementation of any tariff increase.
Lawan gave the prerequisite on Tuesday after he and House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila met with President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on the proposed increase in electricity tariff.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had announced that the new price scheme for electricity consumers would start today, July 1.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Osinbajo heads the Power Sector Reform Coordination Working Group.
EkoHotBlog had on Monday reported how the DisCos halted the proposed tariff increase after meeting with the national assembly leadership.
Lawan, who addressed State House correspondents after meeting, said the increase was untimely as necessary arrangements should be put in place before such hike.
He explained that the current situation of the country demanded that the government do everything to make things easy for the citizens.
“The joint leadership of the National Assembly sat yesterday with the DisCos and Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and we believe that it is not the right time to increase the tariffs in the electricity today.
“Nigerians have a lot of challenges to bear because of COVID-19 pandemic and the situation requires that we should do everything possible to make life easy for our citizens. Of course, government is doing a lot in this respect”
Also Read: Electricity: DisCos Suspend Tariff Increase After Meeting With NASS Leadership
He added that there must be parameters to enhance effective and correct metering, one that’s not based on guessing what the consumers used.
To this end, he noted that the metering system must be scientific based, one that reflects what the electricity user actually consumed.
“We believe that the DisCos should continue to engage with their consumers, find better cost reflective tariff. But before then, there must some steps to ensure that the consumers are properly metered.
“Otherwise, you will still be guessing what consumers are consuming; that is to say, let the billing be very scientifically based. It has to be based on what you actually consume.
“So, we had this discussion with the Vice-President and we are sure that the announcement of an increase in electricity tariff in Nigeria is untimely.
“We believe that we need to do more work to ensure that before any increase, there must be some measures; some steps and some line of actions that must be exhausted, including the metering. This is a welcome idea to the Vice-President as well,” he said.
Lawan noted that to stabilise power supply, the Share Purchase Agreement signed between the Federal Government and the DisCos at the point of privatisation must be adhered to.
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