Wonodi: Discos to Pay Full Invoices with New Tariffs

The Managing Director of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc, Mr. Rumundaka Wonodi has said that with the new tariffs that took effect from February 1, 2016, the electricity distribution companies in the country would henecforth be able to pay their full invoices.

Wonodi told THISDAY recently that from March, the remittance of the distribution companies to the other members of the value chain would improve significantly.

He stated that inadequate metering, non-payment by consumers and poor collection have made it difficult for the discos to meet their obligations to the other members of the value chain.

“They (discos) are not paying their full invoices… we hope that with this new adjustment in tariffs, they should be able to pay their bills. I believe that all these are being addressed by this whole idea of this new tariff,” he said. Under the new tariff that took off on February 1, all electricity consumers – residential and commercial – would no longer pay fixed charges, so their total bills would reflect the electricity they consume and might be reduced when they conserve electricity. Former Chairman of Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Sam Amadi had said the objective of the new tariff was to enable prudent consumers to save money on electricity bills as they can now control their consumption and not pay the monthly fixed charges. Giving some insight into the new tariff structure, NERC disclosed that residential consumers classified as R2 under the Abuja Disco coverage area, would no longer pay N702 as fixed charge every month but their energy charge would increase by N9.60 per kilowatt/hour (Kwh).

Residential consumers under the same category covered by Eko and Ikeja Discos will no longer pay the N750 fixed charge but will see their tariffs increase by N10 and N8 per Kwh increases respectively.

Similarly, N800 and N750 fixed charges would be taken away from R2 consumers covered by Kaduna and Benin Discos respectively, but they will pay N11.05 and N9.26 per Kwh.