With just two days to the implementation of the proposed over 51 percent electricity tariff hike nationwide, investigations by Daily Trust have shown that pre-paid meter shortfall will make the DisCos to subject over five million customers to the detested crazy billing regime in the months ahead.

Despite the ongoing partial lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has not issued any directive suspending the planned tariff hike.

Ahead of the hike, it provided a rebate from February 20, 2020 when it ordered the 11 power Distribution Companies (DisCos) to cap their estimated billing immediately and ensure they accelerate their metering strategies.

The regulatory agency had set the limit for which consumers can pay across the DisCos, based on the estimated monthly power supply the DisCos supplied to NERC.

Daily Trust checks have shown that the efforts by DisCos to provide metres for customers under the current Meter Assets Providers (MAP) scheme have been clogged by various hurdles that include the prevailing N1.7 trillion electricity market shortfalls and apparent complaints by DisCos over a 45 percent import duty on metering devices. 51% tariff hike looms, NERC mulls another hike after 9 months NERC last Monday concluded its tariff review consultations with the 11 DisCos and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

The industry regulator has two to three weeks to review stakeholders’ submissions and approve the 51 percent tariff hike presented to it by the operators. The extra ordinary tariff review document obtained by this newspaper says another tariff hike may follow that of April 2020 after nine months. It explained that the Average National Cost Reflective Tariff (CRT) had changed to N53.4 from January 2020 but NERC allowed N30.7 as the selling price since 2018. However barring any emergency intervention in the face of the coronavirus pandemic and crash in oil price, that will end March 2020.

The Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) has N600 billion loan, which currently pays for the N22.7 tariff deficit to the GenCos. Postponing the April tariff hike may worsen the N1.7 trillion shortfalls already recorded in the electricity market, the records say. “In order to mitigate the impact of rate shock on consumers, it is proposed that the gradual increase shall commence on April 1, 2020,” NERC said emphatically in its recently concluded tariff review document.

Averagely, the DisCos will be allowed to start charging N46 from April 2020 raising the hike by 51 percent at an average increase of N15.3 from the current N30.7 tariff. The tariff will then rise from N46 to N50.3 from January 2021, representing another six percent rise. Only high consumers off estimation by April As the implementation of the new tariff beckons, only high energy consumers are free from estimated bill if they are not metered by April ending.

The Residential 2 (R2) and Commercial 1 (C1) customers whose bills have been capped will have to bear the brunt until they are metered through MAP by Year 2021 or 2022. NERC has set three years for the unmetered customers to be metered beginning from May 2019. To hasten this, it rolled out the capping of estimated billing regulations saying it is a trigger for DisCos to hasten the metering process so they can prevent revenue loss.

NERC said DisCos must meter all higher energy consuming customers (MD) by 30 April, 2020 and shall not be disconnected as they are not liable to pay estimated bill again. However, the unmetered R2 and C1 customers must not be billed more than a template NERC has approved for the DisCos.

Source:-Daily Trust

Share on:  Whatsapp  Twitter  Facebook