New electricity tariff becomes effective in October

  NERC targets 100% revenue collection

• Eko Disco to abolish fixed charge

The Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) is targeting 100 per cent revenue collection when the new tariff is effected in October.

Speaking with The Nation in a telephone conversation yesterday, its Chairman, Dr. Sam Amadi said the Distribution Electricity Companies (Discos) which are looking forward to tariff and revenue increase are yet to ramp up their payment.

According to him, the power distribution firms are however paying gradually.

He said: “The Discos are paying and we are expecting revenue increase. We are working on a new tariff . But the Discos are yet to ramp up payment. They are paying gradually.

“We are expecting more improvement in tariff and revenue collection.  We expect them to do 100 per cent as we are going when the new tariff becomes effective in October.”

Meanwhile, the management of Eko Electricity Distribution Plc (EKEDP) yesteray said it plans to abolish monthly fixed charges on its consumers.

Its Chief Executive Officer, Mr Oladele Amuda who spoke at a stakeholders forum in Lagos, said the company would present the proposal to NERC for approval.

“The company is proposing to abolish fixed monthly tariff charge from their bills but this has to be approved by NERC.

“I can assure you that if NERC approves the abolition of fixed charge by October, we will start to implement it immediately,” he said.

The chief executive officer urged consumers within the zone to embrace cost reflective tariff to enable the company serve them better.

Amuda lamented that the company is constrained by the present tariff regime which was not cost-reflective.

He said the new proposed tariff was N25 per kilowatt instead of the N17 per kilowatt that was being used to charge now.

Amuda said with the new tariff, the company would have sufficient money to change many transformers and conductors.

He said the company has engaged two Nigerian meter manufacturers to supply 50,000 prepaid meters outside Credit Advancement Payment Metering Installation (CAPMI) scheme.

He said these would be given to consumers with faulty meters and to replace all old meters.

Amuda assured that all consumers would be metered but advised consumers that could not wait to apply under CAPMI scheme.

He said the company had installed 34,565 prepaid meters to consumers in the zone under the scheme.

In a related development, the  Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has sent out 4,008.53 Megawatts (Mw) to Discos, according to the Power Statistics of the Federal Ministry of Power.

Following the statistics which the ministry posted on its website yesterday, energy supply only dipped by 4.86Mw from the 4,013.39Mw sent out on  September 16.

The TCN however recorded a spinning reserve or stranded power of 89.78Mw that it could not wheel out of the 4 098.31Mw produced by the electricity generation companies (Gencos) .

Energy generated that was 4,099.72Mw on September 16 however dipped slightly to  4,098.31Mw on Sunday, indicating a relatively steady average power generation in the electricity market in 10 days.

The market however dropped from the 4,735Mw peak energy generation of September 16 to 4,405.3Mw last Sunday, resulting in gap of 329.7Mw.

In NESI, the highest power power generated is still the  4,810.7 Mw of August 25.

On the power generation, the chairman said there was fire outbreak in Kainji last week, adding were it not for this, power generation would have exceeded the aforementioned result.

Amadi added that power generation is also expected to increase very soon when the Calabar Power Plant comes on stream.

The Nation