- FG Insensitive To The Plight of Nigerians
For Nigerians at the moment, it’s a season of hard times. Still smarting from the proposal of Telecommunication service providers in the country to increase tariffs by 40%, Nigerians woke up to the news on Thursday that they will have to pay more for electricity as the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has announced an upward review in electricity tariff for power Distribution Companies.
This was contained in the data presented by the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in the 2022 Multi-Year Tariff Order for Ikeja Electric, a distribution company covering parts of Lagos and Ogun States.
The upward tariff review is for all customer categories and will be effective from February 2022, spanning through December 2022, according to the document.
While some customers in the major demand areas were asked to pay N60.12 per kilowatt from N58.59, customers in low-demand areas have been asked to pay N57.52 per kilowatt from N55.87.
The increase was based on the DisCos’ Performance Improvement Plans and indicators such as gas price, inflation, exchange rate, US inflation rate, and available generation capacity, according to the electricity regulators.
What this means is that the FG through its agency, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has given Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC); Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC); Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDC); Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (KEDC); Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC); Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) and Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) approval to increase their tariff rates.
According to the document titled: “This regulatory instrument shall be cited as Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO-2022) for Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company Plc (PHED”), NERC based the increase on the Performance Improvement Plans of the DisCos and indices such as gas price, inflation, exchange rate, US inflation rate, and available generation capacity.
The commission noted that the indices with the potential impact on electricity rates were considered.
It added that these indices shall be reviewed every six months to update the tariffs with changes in the indices as applicable in line with the MYTO.
This was contained in the commission’s Order No: NERC/304/2021, which chairman, Sanusi Garba, and Vice-Chairman Musiliu Oseni signed on 29th December 2021.
The document explained: “Consequently, following the approval of PHED’s PIP on 30th April 2021, the Commission issued the MYTO-2021 Extraordinary Tariff Order effective from 1st July 2021 in consideration of PHED’s CAPEX proposals over a 5-year plan in line with the approved PIP.
“Accordingly, this MYTO-2022 order restates PHED’s approved 5-year CAPEX and relevant assumptions applied to forecast revenue requirements and applicable tariffs for the period 2021-2026 in line with MYTO Methodology and Regulations Procedure for Electricity Tariff Reviews in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).”
It is programmed from 1st July 2021 to 30th June 2026.
The document showed that the PHED (A-Non-MD) customers who paid N56.16/kWh in January 2022 will now (February to December 2022) pay N60.67/kwh).
(B Non-MD) customers who paid N56.64/kwh in January 2022, will now pay N59.64/kwh.
They noted that E- MD2 customers who paid N50.72/kwh in January 2022, will now (From February 2022) pay N54.22/kwh.
Following the announcement, Nigerians from all walks of life have been venting their frustration at the development.
According to Olusanjo Ojekanmi, he could not understand why the electricity tariff increase was coming shortly after the proposed increase by Telecom operators.
“What’s happening here? The telecom companies are proposing an increase in tariff, DisCos too want to follow suit, food prices are skyrocketing and life is becoming increasingly unbearable for an average Nigerian, yet, an individual can afford to buy a nomination form for N100m, Lord saves us in Nigeria” he agitated.
Similarly, Bello Bilal Sumda lamented the increase in the prices of everything in the country.
Everything today has increased, but we still survive it. The time will come when the poor man can no longer bear it again. The rate of insecurity keeps increasing because of the hardship our leaders are putting on through. How do you expect us to have the security of life and property when everything today has increased by 100%? He asked.
Musa Kadiri also decried the collaboration between NERC and DisCos to heap hardship on Nigerians.
“These guys are trying hard to snuff life out of Nigerians but my God will not allow them. God will contend with you and frustrate your own lives until you repent. Things are difficult, why add another suffering to Nigerians? This act is evil and wicked. May God deal with NERC & DisCos for conspiring to add to Nigerians’ suffering”.
On his part, Mcphils Muzikals warned that the hardships Nigerians are being subjected to are too much and might push them off the edge.
The hardship will get to the Nigerian people including those who do not care, by then, there would be a bloody revolution, our thieving politicians won’t have anywhere to hide, they would become subject of public targets, and they won’t be free to walk on their streets nor ride across the express roads. They won’t see the road to the airports and talk more about boarding their private jets. Their families will not be safe anywhere in the world because relatives of hunger-stricken Nigerians will still catch up with them outside Nigeria” he vented,
