The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has reiterated that the proposed electricity tariff hike, which will take effect from the first quarter of 2021, will not substantially impact poor power consumers in the country.
The Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) regulator made the pronouncement, even as the Senate said Monday that it is working with NERC to review the extant laws to meet with current realities.
Speaking during a presentation to the Senate Committee on Power at the commission’s head office in Abuja, the NERC Chairman, Prof. James Momoh, assured the lawmakers that the tariff increase was structured in such a way that the masses will not be affected.
Momoh told the lawmakers, who were on their oversight function, that a strategy had been put in place to ensure that whatever happens, the poor will no longer subsidise the rich.
He said: “It is not going to affect the poor. We will make sure that the downtrodden and the people you feel for at the moment will not be affected by any increase we will be bringing forth.
“It will be based on the hours of service and the quality of power available there. We don’t want the poor to subsidise the payment of the rich. In other words, we must make sure that the poor are not sacrificed in the process of tariff increase.”
In his comments, the Chairman of the committee, Senator Gabriel Suswam, urged the commission to handle the tariff increase with caution because of the economic hardship it could inflict on the people.
