The Federal Government of Nigeria, says it plans to regularise electricity tariffs of Bands B, C and A customers, in order to ensure a more efficient and reliable power sector.
Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, said this at the Public Presentation of the National Integrated Electricity Policy and Nigeria Integrated Resource Plan in Abuja on Thursday.
Adelabu noted that as a result of the migration of some customers to Band A, the power sector recorded a 70 percent growth in its revenue from 1.05 trillion Naira in 2024 to about 1.7 trillion Naira.
Under the current structure, customers in Band B, who enjoy 18 to 17 hours of electricity supply pay 63 Naira per kilowatt-hour, as those in Band A, with only two hours more of supply, are charged 209 Naira per kilowatt-hour Adelabu, had revealed in 2024, that the power sector adopted cost reflective tariff for a portion of electricity consumers about 15 percent, might look small but it is the way forward.
“It was pilot and a proof of concept which I believe it had worked the people that are enjoying 20 to 24 hours of electricity supply in a day are happy.
“ They are satisfied in spite of the fact that they are paying N209 per kilowatt-hour as they believe they are better off than when using generators.
“We believe that as we continue to work on revamping our distribution and transmission infrastructure, more and more people will be migrated to Band A,“ he said.
Adelabu also said that as a result of the migration of some customers to Band A, the power sector recorded a 70 per cent growth in its revenue from N1.05 trillion in 2024 to about N1.7 trillion.
The minister said: “We will look at the tariff again. I am not saying that we’re going to increase the tariff before I am misquoted.
” We are going to look at the tariff and see how we can improve on our modest achievement of 2024 not only to grow the sector revenue.
` But to also ensure that we are able to invest more in revamping the dilapidated infrastructure in the power sector so that they can carry the kind of reliable electricity we envisage for the power sector.
“We thought the migration of Band B and C customers will be faster that this but the Electricity distribution Companies (DisCos) have refused to invest in the power sector, ” he said.
According to him, a lot of investment was required to achieve accelerated migration of lower-band customers into Band A.
He said that the reqularisation of the tariff Band B and C customers to Band A would be done at a slow pace.
