The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) said the federal government will spend N1.6 trillion to subsidise electricity for users in 2024.
Garba Sanusi, the Executive Chairman of NERC disclosed this on Wednesday while drawing attention to the tariff review by electricity distribution companies, and lamented the unsustainability as it amounts to N120 billion in a month.
The NERC boss speaking about the new tariff review said: “I want to correct the impression that for one year we haven’t had any review. The reality is that the reviews have been done but what happened is what you pay as a customer is a blend of regulation and policy.
“If we have determined that you should be paying N150 and the Federal Government says you should pay N60 and that it will pay the difference, what it means is that the government would provide the money.
“And that in the current tariff order that is posted on our website, you will see this is what you should pay, and what the government says you should pay, and the government will provide the difference except there is a change of the government policy.
“For the first time we mandated all the Discos to provide five-year capital investment plans, and we reviewed it for prudence and efficiency, and we made sure that all these investments are targeted towards improving service.
“We have our projection on what will be required if the government does not pay a tariff, and it will be N1.6trn to fund electricity, and that is 30bn a month. One of the new things in tariff order is, and to avoid rate shock, we will now be doing the minor tariff review very frequently, like every month’’.
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