The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission on Wednesday says there is an improvement in payment of electricity bills by consmers since the implementation of Service Based Tariffs that started in November 2020.
The Deputy General Manager, Market Competition and Rates, NERC, Abba Terab, while speaking at the May 2021 virtual Power Dialogue in Abuja, said electricity consumers in bands A and B were now paying up to 78 per cent of their electricity bills.
This, according to him, has improved the revenue of electricity distribution companies in the country since the commencement of the SBT.
Consumers in bands A and B are higher electricity users, who get greater quantum of power daily than others in bands C, D and E.
The Service-Based Tariff was introduced after thorough analysis of the Performance Improvement Plans submitted by Discos and several consultations with distributors and stakeholders.
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Terab said, “As we speak, the current tariffs customers are paying is about 78 per cent of the cost reflective tariffs, which is a significant improvement and that is the aggregate revenue the Discos collect.
“Of course, not all customers are paying up to 78 per cent, but at least those on bands A and B are largely paying about that level or something very close to that level.”
He added, “However, others are not paying up to that. So as we migrate customers, each six months to higher service bands, this number will reduce and hopefully by the next review in July, a number of customers will be moved to higher bands.
“And they will be getting higher improved services. Based on that, the improvement and payments upstream will increase.
“Most of the peaks for generation were recorded since the SBT kicked in and so it means that it is actually yielding the desired results as expected, which is part of the objectives of the Power Sector Recovery Programme.”
