Barely three months after the implementation of the first hike in the electricity tariff took effect, Nigerian government has yet again approved another hike in electricity tariff payable by consumers nationwide.
The directive to increase the tariff was signed by the new chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Sanusi Garba instructing electricity distributing companies to increase tariffs, and this was to be effected January 1, 2021.
He attributed the inflation rate in the country, exchange rate, available generation capacity, gas price, MDA losses and CAPEX adjustment, as the cause of the hike.
The NERC has stated that the new tariff would be in effect till June 2021, while a Cost Reflective Tariff would be activated from June to December 2021.
Recall that the commission announced an increase in September 2020, but was met with stiff opposition as the Nigerian Labour Congress threatened to embark on a nationwide strike, which led to the suspension of the tariff hike.
The opposition party (PDP) has however come out to condemn the hike in a recent statement. The party has said it is insensitive of the Federal Government to increase the tariff at a time like this, when people are looking up to the government for economic relief policies and packages.
As expected, several individuals and small businesses, barely recovering from the devastating effects of recent COVID-19 restrictions.
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