By Adaobi Rhema Oguejiofor
Stakeholders in the electricity sector are making demands for a cost-reflective tariff as the Federal Government continues to pump more money to defend the sector.
This was revealed during the ongoing Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) conference in Abuja, where the stakeholders insisted that a cost-reflective is critical in the power sector if the sector would progress.
This is coming four months after the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) deferred an increase in electricity tariff.
The Country Director of the Energy Market and Rates Consultant Limited (EMRC), Rahila Thomas, stated that while the regulatory body was expected to review the tariff every six months, the reverse has been reality.
According to her, with rising inflation, forex and other critical variables like generation capacity, regular review of the tariff is sacrosanct.
In her own words, “a review ought to have happened in July and the realities in inflation and forex mean tariff ought to have gone up but for political reasons, this has not been done. The government is now paying subsidies that have amounted to N3.34 trillion and aside from that the government has paid N2.8 trillion to support the tariff.”