The House of Representatives has asked the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to shelve its plan to review electricity tariff in June.
The green chamber also faulted electricity distribution companies for making new apartment occupants take responsibility for electricity debts incurred by former occupants of the building.
At the plenary on Thursday, the House adopted a motion moved by Aniekan Umanah titled: ‘Call on the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission to Suspend the Proposed Increase in Electricity Tariff’.
As a result of the motion adopted, the House advised the Federal Government to order NERC to “rescind the decision to further increase electricity tariff proposed for June 2021 in view of the hard times Nigerian masses are currently going through.”
The committees on Power, Poverty Alleviation, and Labour, Employment and Productivity were urged by the House to ensure compliance with the resolution.
Umanah pointed to the fact that the NERC, in concert with the Discos, had raised electricity tariffs five times in the last six years, the most recent being on January 1, 2021.
Umanah said, “The House is aware that despite those increases, Nigerians have not enjoyed significant improvement in power generation, instead they daily grapple with epileptic services from the Discos and unilateral exploitation in the name of estimated billing arising from non-metering of over 50 percent of consumers.
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“The House observes that poor services by the Discos have impacted negatively on the socio-economic growth of the country as the International Monetary Fund Report of 2020 on Nigeria indicated that the manufacturing sector lost over $200bn to inadequate power supply, while $21bn was said to have been spent by Nigerians on generators within the period under review.
“The House further observes that the Nigerian masses have gone through so much hardship in recent times arising from acts of terrorism, banditry, kidnappings, and farmers herdsmen’s crisis with its toll on agricultural activities, displacement from ancestral homes, loss of loved ones, starvation arising from inability to return to daily occupation and loss of personal properties running into several million of naira.”
The lawmaker added, “The House is concerned that at a time governments all over the world are adopting measures to cushion the devastating effects of the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic on their citizens by providing a wide range of palliatives to losses of loved ones, jobs, businesses and general distortion in the social life, NERC is tinkering with the idea of a further increase in electricity tariff after that of 1 January, 2021, in a country where two-thirds of the 200 million population is grappling with the crippling effects of the pandemic.”
The House also unanimously adopted a motion by Olatunji Shoyinka titled: ‘Need to Investigate Transferred Debts Incurred by Old Electricity Customers to New Users by Distribution Companies in Nigeria’.
The lawmakers consequently resolved to mandate the House Committee on Power to “engage the distribution companies and other relevant regulatory agencies to find a lasting solution and report within four weeks.”
