Mohammed Shosanya
The Federal Government will spend up to N1.6 trillion in subsidizing electricity for end users by the end 2024, amounting about N120 billion every month, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC)says.
Garba Sanusi, the Executive Chairman of NERC, stated this on Wednesday during interactive session with journalists in Abuja, lamented the amount was not sustainable.
NERC Wednesday night posted the review tarriff for the operating electricity distribution companies with provision of subsidy.
The NERC boss, who spoke passionately about the new tarrif review said: “I want to correct the impression that for one year we haven’t had any review. The reality is that the reviews have been done but what happened is what you pay as a customer is a blend of regulation and and policy.
“If we have determined that you should be paying N150 and the Federal Government says you should pay N60 and it will pay the difference. Then that is what it is, and the government would now provide the money.
“And that is why the current tariff order that is posted on our website, you will see this is what you should pay, and this is what the government says you should pay, and the government will provide the difference except there is the change of the government policy.
“For the first time we mandated all the Discos to provide five-year capital investment plans, and we reviewed it for prudence and efficiency, and we made sure that all these investments are targeted towards the improving service.
“We have our projection on what will be required if the government does nothing tariff, and it will be N1.6trn to fund electricity, and that is 30bn a month. One of the new things in tarrif order is, and to avoid rate shock, we will now be doing the minor tariff review very frequently, like every month’’.