The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has approved over 50 per cent hike in electricity tariff effective January 1, 2021.
According to reports, this approval comes just two months after the Commission made plans for electricity tariff increase which was opposed citizens.
In a revised Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO) signed by Engr. Sanusi Garba, the new Chairman of NERC, on December 30, 2020, the new tariff increase took effect on January 1, 2021, and supersedes the previous Order NERC/2028/2020.
In the new Order NERC/225/2020, the commission said it considered the 14.9% inflation rate rise in November 2020, foreign exchange of N379.4/$1 as of December 29, 2020, available generation capacity, US inflation rate of 1.22% and the Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) of the power firms to raise the tariff.
Unlike the previous order of November 2020 which exempted low power getters, the revised Service Based Tariff (SBT) saw increase in the rates payable by all classes of electricity users.