The planned electricity tariffs hike expected to come into effect next Wednesday, yesterday, turned dramatic following a retraction by the Eko Distribution Company.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), under the Service Based Tariff (SBT) programme, had designed an incremental tariff with an upward review due next month.

The SBT came into force last year, increasing the cost of electricity by over 50 per cent, as government moved to halt subsidy in the electricity sector and allow the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) generate enough funds to finance the bed-ridden market.

President Muhammadu Buhari had, in September last year, vigorously defended the increase in electricity tariff tagged Service Based Tariff (SBT), stressing that it was the only gateway to improving power supply to the masses.
The SBT may have succeeded in improving revenue collection in the sector by above N260b, but to the detriment of the masses. Although criticisms have dogged the service based tariff, as improvement in electricity supply remains dismal, with perpetual outages and collapse of transmission and distribution infrastructure, some distribution companies already informed consumers that a new tariff would be implemented this week.

A document from the Eko Electricity Distribution Company, dated August 25, 2021, with reference number 023/EKEDP/GMCLR/0025/2021 showed that the tariff would increase from N42.44 to 58.94 depending on the class. The new tariff is expected to be in place till December before further increment takes place in January next year. Across the band, the increase remained N2 from the tariff paid between July and August.

“This is to officially notify you that there will be an increase in electricity tariff with effect from September 1, 2021. This increase is as a result of nationwide mandate to implement the Service Based Tariff approved by our regulator, NERC,” Eko DisCo wrote in the document signed by the company’s General Manager, Loss Reduction, Olumide Anthony-Jerome.

Shortly after the statement went public, a top government official stated that the statement was issued in error, while the Managing Director of Eko DisCo, Adeoye Fadeyibi denied that the statement came from the company.

“Our attention has been drawn to news making the rounds in the media from unsubstantiated sources of a planned adjustment in electricity tariffs. Eko Electricity Distribution Plc would like to inform the general public to disregard all such reports not emanating from the management or the company’s website – www.ekedp.com,” he wrote a statement.

In recent times, there have been blame games over electricity tariffS increase/ Earlier in January, NERC had denied a 50 per cent increase in some tariffs. Multiple sources had told The Guardian that there are indications that the SBT may be implemented in phases without the attention of the end users.

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