Former Vice President and opposition leader Atiku Abubakar on Thursday condemned the electricity tariff increase in Nigeria, saying such a decision is ill-advised and wrong-timed.
I reject the increased electricity tariffs. Coming out of the lockdown, Nigerians need a stimulus, not an impetuous disregard for the challenges they face. Many Nigerians have not earned an income for months, due to no fault of theirs. This increase is ill-timed and ill-advised.
— Atiku Abubakar (@atiku) September 3, 2020
The former vice president, on his verified Twitter handle, said the increase should not have come at a time Nigerians are recuperating from economic hardship following the impact of the coronavirus pandemic that ruined their businesses.
“I reject the increased electricity tariffs. Coming out of the lockdown, Nigerians need a stimulus, not an impetuous disregard for the challenges they face. Many Nigerians have not earned an income for months, due to no fault of theirs. This increase is ill-timed and ill-advised, Mr Abubakar posted.
The increase
On Wednesday, Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company(KEDCO)’s head of corporate communication, Sani Shawai, in a statement, said the new tariff shall apply to all customers with pre-paid meters from September 1, 2020. Customers with post-paid bills shall receive bills under the new tariff in October 2020, he added.
He said the initiative “will boost supply to all businesses and households while improving delivery of service and resolution of grievances, in line with KEDCO’s commitment to all its customers”.
“The new tariff regime will be strictly based on service availability and quality supply. Thus, all customers shall be required to pay for their consumptions based on hours of supply they enjoy,” Mr Shawai said.
Like KEDCO,all the electricity companies in the country have also begun the implementation of the new tariff regime.
Specifics
Under the new service reflective tariff, customers have been classified into five tariff bands – Band A, B, C, D and E. Minimum hours of supply across these tariff bands range between four and 20 hours, Mr Shawai added.
“Customers under Band A shall receive 20 hours of power supply while those on Band B shall receive 16 hours minimum supply. Band C customers shall enjoy a minimum of 12 hours.
“All customers are expected to pay for the supply as per rates approved by NERC. However, tariffs for customers under Band D and E (4 and 8 hours supply) have been frozen at existing levels.
“We assure all customers that KEDCO shall adhere to the new service reflective tariff regime as approved and mandated by NERC to ensure that customers get
service delivery in line with established standards,” the official said.
Premium Times