The House of Representatives has urged the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to rescind its decision to further increase the electricity tariff in June.
The resolution of the House was sequel to the adoption of a motion moved at the plenary on Thursday by Hon. Hon. Aniekan Umanah.
Moving the motion, Umanah said that it was important to suspend the planned increase in view of the current harsh economic situation in Nigeria.
He said that NERC was established by the Electric Power Sector Act of 2005, with a mandate to license Distribution Companies (DISCOs).
The lawmaker added that the Act prescribed its funding from 15% of electricity charges paid by customers to distribution companies.
Umanah noted that NERC, working with distribution companies, has increased electricity tariffs five times since 2015, the latest being on 1 January 2021.
According to him, in spite of the increase, Nigerians have not enjoyed significant improvement in power supply; instead, they are daily grappled with epileptic services from the DISCOs.
He said Nigerians had suffered unilateral exploitation in the name of estimated billing arising from non-metering of over 50 per cent of consumers.
The lawmaker observed that poor services by the Discos have impacted negatively on the socio-economic growth of the country as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Report of 2020 on Nigeria indicated that the manufacturing sector lost over $200 billion to inadequate power supply, while a whopping $21 billion was said to have been spent by Nigerians on generating sets within the period under review.
Umanah stressed that the Nigerian masses have gone through so much hardship in recent times arising from acts of terrorism, banditry, kidnappings, farmers and herdsmen’s crisis with its toll on agricultural activities, displacement from ancestral homes, loss of loved ones, starvation arising from inability to return to daily occupation and loss of personal properties running into several million of naira.
”Poor services by the DISCOs have impacted negatively on the socio-economic growth of the country as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Report of 2020 on Nigeria indicated that the manufacturing sector lost over 200 billion dollars to inadequate power supply while a whopping 21billion dollars was said to have been spent by Nigerians on power generation sets within the period under review.
“The Nigerian masses have gone through so much hardship in recent times arising from acts of terrorism, banditry, kidnappings, farmers and herdsmen’s crisis with its toll on agricultural activities, displacement from ancestral homes, loss of loved ones, starvation arising from an inability to return to daily occupation and loss of personal properties running into several millions of naira.
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“Governments all over the world are adopting measures to cushion the devastating effects of COVID–19 pandemic on their citizens by providing a wide range of palliatives to those who suffered general distortion in the social life.
“NERC is tinkering with the idea of a further increase in electricity tariff after that of Jan. 1, in a country where 2/3 of the 200 million population is grappling with the crippling effects of the pandemic.
“The purchasing power of an average Nigerian has drastically reduced, any further hike in electricity tariff at this time will amount to overkill, lack of empathy, and height of insensitivity,’’ he said.
The house mandated its Committees on Power, Poverty Alleviation and Labour, Employment, and Productivity to ensure compliance.
In a related development, the House adopted a motion and mandated the House Committee on Power to investigate the alleged transfer of debts incurred by old electricity consumers to new users by DISCOs.
Moving a motion, Rep. Shoyinka Olatunji said that there were constant complaints by electricity consumers on the poor services by DISCOs.
He said that if nothing is done to curb the act of transferring debts incurred by other consumers to new consumers, the latter would continue to bear the burden of paying for the electricity they did not consume.
The House, therefore, mandated its Committee on Power to engage the Discos and other relevant regulatory agencies to find a lasting solution and report back within four weeks.
