The Electricity Consumer Protection Centre, on Thursday, declared that the recent hike in power tariff for Band A customers was unjustifiable given the poor performance of electricity distribution companies.
ECPC called the attention of the the Federal Government to the fact that past tariff increases had never led to improved electricity supply across the country.
On April 3, 2024, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission raised the tariff payable by about 1.9 million power users in Band A category from N68 per kilowatt-hour to N225/kWh.
It said the power users affected by the hike would henceforth enjoy 20 hours of electricity supply from their various power distribution companies.
But the Executive Director, Electricity Consumer Protection Centre, Princewill Okorie, told journalists in Abuja on Thursday that it was wrong for the Federal Government to continue to approve tariff increases for the Discos when consumers had yet to enjoy improved supply despite trillions of naira invested in the sector.
He said the government should control the act of over pricing in the power sector since the operators had shown little interest in putting money into improving their infrastructure and networks.
Okorie said, “There are fundamental problems in the sector that the government needs to fix before talking of any tariff increase. We don’t look at the issues of implementation and enforcement. The power sector is very fundamental to the social and economic development of this nation.
“Nigeria is a signatory to the United Nations convention on human, social, cultural and political rights, and also Section 34 (1) of Nigeria’s constitution is against torture, inhuman and degrading treatment.
“And from the way Nigerians are being treated today in the power sector, it is clear that they are being tortured, dehumanised and treated without respect. The increase in tariff is not justified and we reject it.”
The consumer group also called for a probe into how Discos spend the operating and capital expenditures provided for them in the tariff order, stating that over the years consumers had continued to provide poles, transformers and cables without being reimbursed by the utilities.
Okorie pointed out that while budgets for OPEX and CAPEX had continued to increase, transparency in the expenditures had dwindled.
He noted that the crisis in Eko Disco, for instance, was particularly of interest where “the utility continues to pay ghost workers and the cost is transferred to the consumers as part of OPEX allowed in the tariff order.”
Okorie said, “In the light of the above, we have observed that while Discos are complaining of inadequate tariff and go to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission to increase tariff, while suffering consumers are forced to pay in the existing monopolistic power sector privatisation.”
