On Thursday, electricity customers protested a stealth rise in the tariffs they must pay to power distribution firms for the electricity they use.
They expressed concern that the government was allowing Discos to boost electricity costs in the face of nationwide fuel constraints.
Petrol scarcity and long lines at filling stations in states were caused by adulterated fuel brought into the nation roughly two weeks ago.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, it was learned, had modified the prices payable to Discos, with certain power companies receiving increases and others receiving decreases.
This, however, was not announced or published on the regulator’s website, as it had previously been.
The President, of Nigeria Consumer Protection Network, Kola Olubiyo, told our correspondent that his group took up the matter with the regulator last week.
He stated that while some customers said their tariffs were increased by N4, others could not actually tell the amount by which theirs were raised, adding that there had been no public confirmation by the NERC.
He said, “They (NERC) raised it last week or thereabout, and is like it is an N4 adjustment. Port Harcourt and Abuja (Discos) raised it and in fact, I think it is across the board.
“But what we are asking the regulator is that if they approved something that is going to affect our pocket without letting us know, it is like shaving our heads in our absence.
“They said labor was part of them and I said is that what labor went to negotiate for us? I was told that they have a structured table that has already been approved and it is just for them to implement.”
ALSO READ: FG, PDP Clash As Economy Grows By 3.4%, Highest In 7years
Olubiyo added, “But if they have approved the table as they said, are they giving us the required services? You and I know that services have not improved. We are having low generation and all manner of blame games.”
The legal practitioner and NCPN president insisted that the regulator should provide a table on the increase as it used to publish in the past, stressing that consumers had the right to know.
He said, “They should let us have the table that shows the bit-by-bit increment. We should have it. They are not communicating with the public.
“If they are making a decision that will affect our disposable income, are we not supposed to be in the know? If you raise it they will argue that are we not aware that things are increasing every day. Is that the way we are going to work?”
Confirming the increase, a power user in Abuja, said, “It seems the Discos have increased their tariffs again without public notice. I recharged N5,000 today but was given 91.7 units instead of the usual 107.”
Also, an official at the Federal Ministry of Power stated that the increase had to be implemented because the Federal Government had withdrawn some of its financial support to power firms.
“The Federal Government has to withdraw every support or most of its support to power firms, such as subsidy on electricity,” the source, who pleaded not to be named for lack of authorization, stated.
The official added, “So in a way, there is an adjustment in tariff because they (power firms) are shouldering higher cost responsibility now. However, some of them actually have reductions in their tariffs and nobody is talking is about it.”
On whether there was any official adjustment in tariff, the source replied, “They (Discos) have been communicated more than a month ago, since January or so.”
Efforts to get the NERC to speak on the matter were unsuccessful, as its spokesperson, Usman Arabi, could not be reached on Thursday evening. A text message sent to him on the matter had yet to be replied to up till when this report was filed in.
BIG STORY3 days ago
BIG STORY7 hours ago
BIG STORY3 days ago
BIG STORY3 days ago
BIG STORY2 days ago
BIG STORY2 days ago
BIG STORY3 days ago
BIG STORY3 days ago