• Says NLC party to increment
THE Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) is unperturbed by a statement by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) rejecting the new electricity tariff.
NERC wondered why the union should suddenly make a u-turn on the tariff when its leadership was part of a multi-stakeholders consultation that allegedly initiated the raise with the NLC leadership in Jos, Plateau State.
At a press briefing in Abuja Monday, NERC Chairman, Dr. Sam Amadi, said the Labour’s position was unnecessary as electricity supply has “improved significantly,” therefore, “the tariffs are fair.”
In a statement on Sunday, NLC President, Abdulwaheed Omar, had premised the Congress’s rejection of the new tariff on government’s failure to check epileptic power supply and the low purchasing power of the working populace.
Access charge, which was N225 the previous year, “has been arbitrarily increased to over N700. This review, whether done suddenly or in advance, is without justification or rationale and stands condemned as it will negate whatever gains expected to be recorded by the much-vaunted reform in the power sector,” the NLC said.
Labour said it believes the multi-year tariff structure as designed by the NERC, which was “tacitly” approved by government, only protects the interest of investors in the electricity sector and has little or no consideration for consumers, most of whom are poor and incapable of paying.
Describing the tariff as exploitative, the Congress further said it was saddening that the review was not accompanied by commensurate improvement in services. It stated: “If anything, electricity service delivery has plummeted over the years with consumers being compelled to pay exorbitant tariffs for incompetence, poor services and fraud.”
However, Amadi stressed that the new tariff was fair, reasonable and necessary to guarantee continuous improvement in electricity supply to Nigerians. According to him, the Multi- Year Tariff Order (MYTO-2) was designed and executed with utmost accountability and full participation of relevant stakeholders, including the NLC, which participated in public hearings and consultations.
The agency noted: “A minor review under MYTO involves an examination of interest rates, exchange rates, inflation rates and available generation capacity during the preceding six months, and if these report a change of plus or minus five per cent individually, such change will be applied to the tariff published for each distribution company.
“The two reviews did not result in any increase in tariff because the indices and fundamentals of the MYTO have not significantly changed. The changes some customers belatedly noticed in their bills were announced on June 1, 2012.”
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