Nigerians are set to pay even more for electricity as the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has approved over 50 per cent hike in electricity tariff payable by customers of the 11 Power Distribution Companies, DisCos.
Unlike the 2020 order, the new rates will apply to all classes of electricity users, low power users inclusive.
The hike was scheduled to take off on January 1, 2021, just two months after a previous hike was implemented.
This is sequel to the signing of a revised Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO) (Order NERC/225/2020) by the new Chairman of NERC, Engr. Sanusi Garba, on December 30, 2020.
NERC said the 14.9% inflation rate rise in November 2020, foreign exchange of N379.4/$1 as of December 29, 2020, available generation capacity, US inflation rate of 1.22% and the Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) of the power firms contributed to the increase in the tariff.
This is effective till June 2021 while a Cost Reflective Tariff (CRT) expected to raise the new cost higher will be activated from June to December 2021, the NERC Order revealed.
365Daily recalls that Nigerians were outraged by the NERC when tariffs were hiked in September last year, leading to concessions that excluded low consumers of electricity.