Poor Electricity Supply Persists As Sector Makes N260b From Tariff Increase
• Stakeholders Insist SBT Failing, Call For Establishment Of More Discos • We Still Pay For Poles, Transformers, Cable, Consumers Cry Out • NERC Fails To Publish Sector’s Performance Figure Months After Tariff Increase
PREMISED on improved electricity service to consumers, Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry through the Service Based Tariff ( SBT) may have succeeded in improving revenue collection by about N260b in the last four months, but to the detriment of the masses. President Muhammadu Buhari had, in September last year, vigorously defended increase in electricity tariff tagged Service Based Tariff ( SBT), stressing that it was the only gateway to improving power supply to the masses.
Speaking at the First Year Ministerial Performance Review Retreat for Ministers, Permanent Secretary and top government functionaries at the State House Conference Centre in Aso Villa, Buhari, represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said:
“The other painful adjustment we have had to make in recent days is a review of the electricity tariff regime.
“The recent service- based tariff adjustment by the DisCos has been a source of concern to many of us. Let me say frankly that like many Nigerians, I have been very unhappy about the quality of service given by the Discos. That is why we have directed that tariff adjustments be made, only on the basis of guaranteed improvement in service.” While the SBT is billing consumers depending on the hour of electricity they enjoy per day, the World Bank in a latest survey had insisted that 78 per cent of power consumers in Nigeria get less than 12 hours of daily supply of electricity. But government data showed that above 45 per cent of Nigerians, categorised under band A, B, C are enjoying between 13 to 24 hours of electricity daily.
Special Adviser to the President on Infrastructure, Ahmad Rufai Zakari had told The Guardian STB had raised aggregate average tariff by 36 per cent, adding that collections by Discos in the sector went up by above 60 per cent.
The implication of the financial improvement, according to him, is that the sector recorded N65b in collection in the January billing cycle. The indication is that the sector would have made about N260b in the first four months of 2021, a development that should ease government spending subsidy to the sector.
However, generation capacity and level of energy consumed by end- users remained dismal, standing between 4,000megawatts and 2,000MW post and preintroduction of tariff, as electricity consumers, industry stakeholders as well as civil society organisations, yesterday, insisted that the quality of service in the sector may be going from bad to worst. Indeed, Nigerians across communities are still forced to buy electricity poles, wires and transformers to enjoy supply, a situation that should be an aberration, if the service based tariff lived up to expectations.
While the industry regulator, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission ( NERC) has failed to publish Sector performance since the SBT was introduced, especially the Aggregate Technical, Commercial and Collection ( ATC& C) losses, the Minister of Power, Sale Mamman, had last month admitted and apologisesd over the failing power supply in the country, blaming the development on gas constraints.