Members of the House Committee on Power have asked the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC to immediately halt the planned hike in electricity tariffs.
Committee Chairman, Aliyu Magaji said this at a meeting of the Committee with NERC and some key players in the power sector on the publicized new electricity tarrifs.
The Chairman told the invited guests, notably NERC, NBET, MELMCO and the distribution companies that the planned increase cannot stand until relevant industry players are consulted and understand what neccessiated the hike.
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He added that the Committee would not allow them to charge Nigerians different charges for electricity useage adding that the use of power for different purposes is the same in all parts of the country.
The Committee had insisted that the necessary steps were not taken by the government agencies before the announcement of the increament which is expected to have taken effect from January 1, 2020.
Executive Chairman of NERC represented by the General Manager, Shaffufeen Mahmood told the lawmakers that the increment was calculated based on prevailing economic realities.
He added that the agency is working to determine the category of customers that will pay the new tariffs based on certain indices such as exchange rate and generation capacity of distribution compnies.
Shaffudeen also hinted that the current electricity price is N55 per kilowatt and the review is backed by law particularly the Power Sector Reform Act 2005. He said it is done twice a year by the Agency to reflect changes in the economic fabrics of the country.
The Committee however insisted that the planned increment is untimely and should be put to a halt as relevant key players in the sector including the Senate and House Committees on Power were not properly consulted.
The intervention of the House members came at an ongoing public hearing by the Committee.
