NERC To Review Electricity Tariff Every Six Months

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) will conduct a minor tariff review every six months to reflect the economic situation, especially the disparity between naira and other major currencies, specifically the dollar.

NERC Chairman, Sanusi Garba, who disclosed this, yesterday, said the commission was not implementing tariff review in secrecy.

Speaking at a media briefing in Abuja, yesterday, Garba said: “We will adjust the rate every six months to take care of the foreign exchange component of costs, and also inflation. This is absolutely a very straightforward thing.”

Although the chairman said the rate might not necessarily be an upward review, Nigeria’s foreign exchange rate has maintained an upward path as the naira is being devalued. Inflation has also remained on the high side, implying that should the indexes continue to go up, the tariff review would follow a similar trend unless the indexes are downward.

Garba noted that the prevailing situation, especially vandalism of pipelines, has been affecting gas supply to power plants, adding that the development remained a major reason for the worsening state of electricity in the country.

He said discussions are on to bring new gas plants on the grid to address the shortfall currently being witnessed in the grid.