FG to Nigerians: Expect new electricity tariffs in six months
The Federal Government has told Nigerians to brace for fresh electricity tariffs in months.
Olu Verheijen, the Special Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Energy, while stating this in an interview in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, when attending a World Bank-backed conference where Nigeria presented a $32 billion plan to boost electricity connections by 2030, said private investors are expected to contribute $15.5 billion. The rest will come from public sources, including the World Bank and African Development Bank.
The energy adviser said Nigeria’s power prices need to rise by about two-thirds for many customers to reflect the cost of supplying it, according to Bloomberg.
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Verheijen said that higher electricity tariffs, which need to be balanced by subsidies for less-affluent consumers, are required to fund the necessary maintenance to improve reliability and to attract private investors into power generation and transmission.
“One of the key challenges we’re looking to resolve over the next few months is transitioning to a cost-efficient but cost-reflective tariff,” Verheijen said.
This is needed “so the sector generates revenue required to attract private capital while also protecting the poor and vulnerable,” she said.
The move to raise tariffs comes amid mounting pressure from Nigeria’s debt-burdened electricity distribution companies for tariffs to be cost-reflective so they can improve their finances.
Source: Channels TV
