Don’t Pay New Electricity Tariff If You Do Not Get Up To 20 Hours Supply – Adelabu

The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has told Band A customers to stop paying the new electricity tariff if they do not enjoy a supply of up to 20 hours daily.

He stated this while appearing before the Senate Committee on Power on a one-day investigative hearing on the need to halt the proposed increase in electricity tariff by eleven successor electricity distribution companies amid the biting economic situation in Nigeria.

The clarification comes as electricity consumers struggle with the recent increase in tariffs by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

The Chairman of the committee, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe raised the question of how customers were migrated from the previous customer classes of Residential (R1, R2, R3), Commercial (C1, C2) and Demand (D1, D2), to different bands.

Abaribe requested to know if the band classification was under the provisions of the law.

He also raised more questions on how the parameters differentiate between regions and areas, citing a portion of the Act highlighting the need for non-discriminatory distribution.

There Will Be Total Blackout For The Next Three Month If You Reject New Policy

Meanwhile, Adelabu has warned that there will be a total blackout in Nigeria in the next three months, if the proposed electricity tariff hike is not implemented.

This is after the Senate committee, led by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, rejected the new tariff regime.

Adelabu warned that the entire sector would be grounded if the Commission fails to increase the tariff.

Adelabu said, “The entire sector will be grounded if we don’t increase the tariff. With what we have now in the next three months, the entire country will be in darkness if we don’t increase tariffs.

“The increment will catapult us to the next level. We are also Nigerians, we are also feeling the impact.”

He said $10 billion yearly for the next ten years is needed to revive the nation’s power sector and nip in the bud the challenges bedevilling it.

For this sector to be revived, the government needs to spend nothing less than 10 billion dollars annually in the next 10 years.

“This is because of the infrastructure requirement for the stability of the sector. But the government cannot afford that. And so we must make this sector attractive to investors and to lenders.

“So, for us to attract investors and investment, we must make the sector attractive, and the only way it can be made attractive is that there must be commercial pricing.

“If the value is still at N66 and the government is not paying subsidy, the investors will not come. But now that we have increased the tariff for A Band, there are interests being shown by investors,” he said.

The minister appealed to lawmakers to support the process of paying the debt owed to operators across the value chain of generation, transmission, and distribution.

However, the Senate Committee on Power, led by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, expressed concerns over the suffering of Nigerians, and asked the minister and other key players in the sector to explore other options.