The Minister of Power, Dr. Adebayo Adelabu, has said any customer not currently enjoying 20 hours of electricity on Band A will not pay the new tariff.
The minister made this known on Monday while appearing before the Senate Committee on Power for a one-day investigative hearing on the increase in the electricity tariff in 11 states in Nigeria.
According to the minister, the government is introducing a new policy to save the “drowning sector.”
He assured Nigerians that the pains were temporary.
The clarification became necessary as electricity consumers in the country are grappling with the recent increase in tariffs by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
Adelabu also pointed out that the Federal Government would pay the sum of ₦2.9 trillion to subsidize electricity this year if the tariff was not reviewed.
During the session, the chairman of the committee, Senator Eyinnnaya Abaribe, raised the question of how customers were migrated from the previous customer classes of Residential (R1, R2, R3), Commercial (C1, C2), and Demand (D1, D2), to different bands.
Abaribe sought clarification from the minister about whether the band classification is subject to the law’s provisions.
He also raised more questions on how the parameters differentiate between regions and areas, citing a portion of the Act that forbids non-discriminatory distribution of electricity.
Persecondnews recalls that Adelabu had said that the federal government will sanction power distribution companies (DisCos) that fail to supply 20 hours of electricity to customers in the Band A category.
Adelabu posted this on his official X (formerly Twitter) account.
The minister said this is part of the adjustments made under the newly revised tariff system targeted at electricity consumers in the Band A category.
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