NERC increases electricity tariff, retains N750 fixed charge

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on Monday announced an increase in electricity tariff by between N1 and N5.

NERC Chairman, Dr Sam Amadi, told a news conference in Abuja said that the new tariff would take effect from June 1 as provided for in the Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO).

He said with the review, most electricity distribution companies (DISCOs) will retain the N750 fixed charge.

He said that the MYTO provides for bi-annual reviews that take effect on June 1 and Dec. 1 to ensure that some critical and financial variables underlying electricity tariff in Nigeria were realistic, fair and current.

Amadi said the variables that determined the methodical reviews included rate of inflation, exchange rate, gas price and available power generation capacity in the country.

Amadi also said that the new tariffs would not be equally served to consumers nationwide.


He said some parts of the country would have reduced tariffs and others with slight increase based on the population covered by each DISCO, amount of electricity allocated and facility available to each DISCO.

The NERC boss said that the review indicated a reduction of the wholesale tariff that would be paid to electricity generating companies (GENCOS) from June 1.

He also noted that the cost of the energy charge would have been much higher but for the good macroeconomics management that produced a real reduction in wholesale generation tariffs.

He said that if the review had not been carried out, the fixed charge would have increased from the current N750 to about N1 500.

The NERC boss said that the three components that made up the total tariff paid by consumers included the generation, transmission and distribution.

He decried the gas challenge to the power plants and said that the fixed costs incurred in the three components earlier mentioned would be spread over a much lower quantity of energy projected to be sold to consumers.

Amadi said NERC would continue to ensure that electricity consumers had access to adequate and reliable electricity and put in place mechanisms for improved service delivery from the new electricity companies

-    NAN