Tag Archives: Electricity Tariff

Hotel Operators Decry High Electricity Tariff

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Hotel operators in Rivers State yesterday called on the management of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) to stop supplying electricity to their hotels.

The operators, who made the demand when they met with a delegation of PHEDC, led by its chief executive officer, Mr Jay McCoskey, in Port Harcourt, said they were not comfortable with the outrageous bills from the power distribution company.

Speaking on behalf of the hotel operators, chairman of Nigeria Hotels Association (NHA) in Rivers State, Mr Eugene Nwauzi, expressed sadness that they were paying exorbitant bills to PHEDC for power supply.

Nwauzi, who lamented that Hotel Presidential got a bill of N9.8 million in January 2016, described it as outrageous, and expressed worry about the metres allocated to hotels, adding that a committee has been set up to look into the issue.

“Hotels in Rivers State have resolved to be disconnected as a result of outrageous bills. They are saying that they cannot meet up with the new tariff from PHEDC. We are going to set up a committee to look into the metre issue,” he said.

Credit: Leadership

NLC Insists On Reversal Of Electricity Tariff Increment

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The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has urged the federal government to muster the necessary courage to revisit and review the privatization exercise of the power sector given the painful intractable problems around the sector.

The congress also insisted it would embark on a one day national strike and protest in collaboration with the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) to protest the hike in electricity tariff in the country.

These, among others were part of the resolutions reached at the end of its Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting held in Abuja and made available to journalists.

The resolutions which were contained in a communique signed by NLC president, Ayuba Wabba, also called on government to do all that is necessary to dismantle the cabal in the downstream sector of the oil industry.

The communique reads in part, “CWC observed that in the aftermath of the nation-wide rallies and pickets, DISCOs had assured Nigerians they would make available metres to customers within a limited time via the process of accelerated production and distribution/sale of metres. CWC noted that nearly three months after, most customers continue to be subjected to estimated billing.

“CWC observed that the dwindling quality of service continues to place Nigerians in an unfortunate situation of paying higher for darkness. CWC accordingly resolved to call an emergency meeting of NEC in conjunction with TUC to perfect the process of a one-day national warning strike/protest to impress on government the resolve of the labour movement, civil society organisations and Nigerians not to accept the increase.

Credit: Leadership

NLC To Declare National Warning Strike Over Electricity Tariff

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The Nigeria Labour Congress says it will declare a one-day national warning strike over the refusal of the Federal Government to reduce the electricity tariff.

NLC President Ayuba Wabba said this while addressing newsmen during the Central Working Committee meeting of the congress on Wednesday in Abuja.

On January 29, the NLC led the picketing of electricity distribution companies (DISCOs) nationwide, the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission, and the National Assembly.

The action, aimed at getting the Federal Government to reverse the 45 per cent tariff hike did not yield the desired result.

Wabba insisted that the tariff increase was “illegal, unfair, unjustifiable and an exploitation of the already exploited Nigerians.

“The privatisation of the power sector was done in bad faith and it has become obvious that the investors did not have the capacity to improve power generation and supply in the country.

“The CWC will agree on a day to embark on the strike, because several actions promised by the Federal Government to checkmate the tariff increment have not been implemented.”

He also noted that the current fuel scarcity in the country had brought untold hardship to workers and Nigerians as a whole.

“We must, however, make the point that spells of scarcity will not be acceptable to Labour and other Nigerians because the human and economic costs are unimaginable.

“We have been patient with this government but this persistent scarcity and suffering of our people will no longer be tolerated.”

The NLC president also frowned at the failure of the government to constitute the board of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency.

He said that no individual had the right to fix the prices of petroleum products.

“We demand the constitution of the board of NNPC and PPPRA. The latter is a 26-man board vested with powers of regulating prices of petroleum products. Today, it is a one-man show.”

On the economy, Wabba noted that Nigerians were groaning under harsh economic conditions.

He urged President Muhammadu Buhari to take urgent steps to implement the budget.

“Government must consult more widely and come up with an enduring solution, Wabba said.”

Credit: Sun

Electricity Tariff: Court Dismisses Contempt Suit Against NERC

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A Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday, dismissed a contempt suit against the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) over alleged disobedience of its order.

 

A Lawyer and Human Rights Activist, Mr Toluwani Adebiyi, had filed the suit, challenging the hike in electricity tariff.

 

He had sought an order of court, committing NERC’s Chairman and the Chief Executive Officers of the Distribution Companies (Discos) to prison for allegedly flouting a subsisting order of the court.

 

Justice Mohammed Idris had on May 28, 2015, directed NERC to suspend all actions relating to any increment in electricity tariff pending the determination of a suit filed by Adebiyi.

 

Adebiyi had argued that despite the subsisting order, NERC in conjunction with the Electricity Distribution Companies commenced the implementation of the new electricity tariff on Feb.1, 2016.

 

He said the implementation of the new tariff by the defendants indicated that the substantive suit meant nothing to them.

 

Delivering his ruling on Monday, Justice Idris held that the procedure for committing a party for contempt outside the face of the court must be strictly adhered.

 

“Before a party can be committed for contempt it must be shown that he is aware of the order or judgment because a person cannot be said to be in contempt of an order he is not aware of. The best way to notify the alleged contemnor of the pending order or judgment is to serve him with the order personally.

“In the light of the law, it is clear in this case that the purported service of form 49 without service of form 48 is premature.

“In the circumstances, I hold that the defendant’s objection have merit. The form 49 and the motion for order for committal are hereby set aside,’’ he said

 

Idris held that he set aside the contempt proceeding due to procedural irregularities.

 

“However, let me warn that where the disciplinary jurisdiction of this court is properly invoked, anyone found to have neglected the order of court will be dealt with.

“Those who intend to take the judicial system for a ride should think twice and those who have done so should retrace their steps.

“To be fore warned, is to be fore armed; this is the ruling of the court,’’ he said.
Idris then adjourned the case to March 15 for hearing.

 

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Adebiyi, in the substantive suit, is seeking an order restraining NERC from implementing any upward review of electricity tariff without a significant improvement in power supply.

 

He also wants an order restraining NERC from foisting compulsory service charge on pre-paid meters, until the meters are designed to read charges per second of consumption.

 

(NAN)

Fashola Begs Nigerians To Accept Hike In Electricity Tariff

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The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN, has noted that the increase in electricity tariffs is the first major policy the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is coming up with, describing same as “a painful pill,” which consumers have to “swallow.”

 

 

Fashola disclosed this Monday during the second monthly meeting with stakeholders in the power sector in Lagos, where he also inspected some projects at the Alagbon Transmission and Distribution Complex.

 

Fashola’s comments came at a time Nigerian workers under the aegis of the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, Trade Union Congress, TUC, joined by Civil Society Organizations embarked on peaceful protests against the policy which has grounded commercial activities in several cities in the country.

 

His words, “Importantly, I understand that people who have been disappointed over a long time will feel a sense of concern that again tariffs have gone up. But the truth is that these tariffs ought to have been there from day one.

 

I don’t know why the government of yesterday was not courageous enough to tell us this was the price. “It is a painful pill that I must appeal that we swallow. It is like quinine and malaria. It’s painful; it’s not sweet, I know that, but I do it because we are not left with many choices. This is the first major decision in power that this administration has taken. There are other problems. “I can only appeal for some understanding and some trust that we do this in the best interest of our country. It is a hard decision, but I think down the line, we will have cause to look…”

 

The minister, who faulted the way the privatisation of the power sector carried out by the immediate past administration of Goodluck Jonathan, said the sector was being plagued by several problems including gas supply shortfall and transmission issue.

Fashola, while responding to a question on what the problems in the sector were, said, “The problem is everywhere. The problem is with us. The problem is with gas. The problem is with transmission. The problem is with the way the privatisation exercise itself was conducted. “But as I have said before, I am not going to lament what has happened in the past. I am going to move on with it. So, the first move we have made when we accessed the situation, nobody was happy with it when we took over. “This is a problem that has been here for 16 years, if we put it mildly. It is a problem that has been here 100 years ago, if we put it really extremely. I have been here for less than a 100 days, and I think we can solve this problem if you give us the tools that we need to do it. I think that this problem can be solved, and the day that we feel that it cannot be solved, I will gladly come and tell you that I don’t think it will work,” he stated.

 

Credit : Vanguard

Electricity Tariff: NLC Says It Will Not Relent On Its Agitation

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The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said on Monday that it would not relent in its agitation for a reverse of the increase in electricity tariff until government listened and acted.

 
The Chairman of NLC, Sokoto state chapter, Mr Aminu Muhammad stated this during the nationwide peaceful protest against the 45 per cent increase in electricity tariff which took effect from Feb. 1.

 
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the protest by the organised labour and civil society organisations took place across the country.

 
Muhammad who led officials of the union to picket the office of the Kaduna Electric Company, said the organised labour would do all things within the confine of the law to ensure their demands were met.

 

“We are out to conduct a peaceful protest and ensure we picket all the electricity offices across Sokoto to send the message from the masses to the government. This picketing organised by NLC became necessary to ensure that the present administration withdraws the exploitative tariff.
“The labour congress will ensure it passes the message to the government, to ensure that the tariff increase is withdrawn,’’ he said.

 
NAN reports that members of NLC locked the premises of Port-Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom
The Akwa Ibom state Chairman of Trade Union Congress (TUC), Mr Akamba Awah, said TUC and NLC believed that there was no rationale behind the increase.

 
The union leader argued that there was no reason for the hike, adding that the state has Ibom Power Plant producing gas for electricity.
According to him, electricity is subsidised in Akwa Ibom by the state government.
Reacting in a telephone interview, the Public Relations Officer to PHEDC, Mr John Onyi, said that the company had invited labour for a meeting.
He said that as soon as the issue was resolved at the headquarters, all the state offices of the organisation would resume work immediately.
In Ado-Ekiti, NLC and TUC members also picketed the state headquarters of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company, (BEDC) over the issue.
The workers who were chanting anti-government songs, carried placards containing various anti-government inscriptions throughout the 30 minutes period the protest lasted.
NAN reports that the protesters vacated the area on sighting the police and members of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.

 
The protest also took place in Makurdi with union leaders assuring that they would vehemently resist the increased electricity tariff in the country.

 
The organised labour lamented that the decision to step up the tariff was taken without recourse to critical stakeholder in the business of electricity consumption.

 
In Benin, the state Chairman of NLC, Emmanuel Ademokun?, accused the distribution companies of disobeying a court order which he said ordered a stay of action on the increase.

“We are here on picketing as directed by the national body of the TUC, NLC and the civil society organisations, against the electricity tarrif increase. The civil societies, pensioners and market women are here with us. It is a fight for everybody; it is not a fight for only the workers.

 
He said the organised labour would continue to kick against the action until they reverse the decision.?

 
NAN reports that the labour movement in Gombe also picketed the Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JED) in reaction to the increase.

 
Haruna Kamara, chairman, NLC Gombe, called on NERC to reverse the 45 per cent increase in tariff.

 
The organised labour in Kano was also not left behind in the peaceful protest.

 
Kabiru Minjibir, the Kano state chairman of NLC, who presented a protest letter to the Special Adviser on Labour Matters, Isah Danguguwa, expressed concern over the tariff increase.

 

We consider the increase in the electricity tariff as illegal and unjustifiable. There is no significant improvement in the power supply. The increase does not consider the current economic situation in the country,” he said.

 
The Special Adviser assured the labour that the letter would be forwarded to the governor for onward submission to President Muhammadu Buhari.

 
In Ilorin, the protest was led by the Chairman of the Kwara chapter of the NLC, Alhaji abdul Yekini Agunbiade and the state Chairman of the Trade Union (TUC), Mr Kolawole Olumoh.

 
NAN reports that hundreds of protesters picketed the office of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company in the state capital.

 
The TUC Chairman Mr Kolawole Olumo said there had not been any quality service delivery to justify the new increase.
He called on federal government to find a lasting solution to the issue of epileptic power supply in the country. (NAN)

Fashola Begs Nigerians To Accept Hike In Electricity Tariff, Faults Jonathan’s Privatization Of Power Sector

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The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN, has noted that the increase in electricity tariffs is the first major policy the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is coming up with, describing same as “a painful pill,” which consumers have to “swallow.”Fashola disclosed this Monday during the second monthly meeting with stakeholders in the power sector in Lagos, where he also inspected some projects at the Alagbon Transmission and Distribution Complex.

Fashola’s comments came at a time Nigerian workers under the aegis of the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, Trade Union Congress, TUC, joined by Civil Society Organizations embarked on peaceful protests against the policy which has grounded commercial activities in several cities in the country.

His words, “Importantly, I understand that people who have been disappointed over a long time will feel a sense of concern that again tariffs have gone up. But the truth is that these tariffs ought to have been there from day one. I don’t know why the government of yesterday was not courageous enough to tell us this was the price.

“It is a painful pill that I must appeal that we swallow. It is like quinine and malaria. It’s painful; it’s not sweet, I know that, but I do it because we are not left with many choices. This is the first major decision in power that this administration has taken. There are other problems.

“I can only appeal for some understanding and some trust that we do this in the best interest of our country. It is a hard decision, but I think down the line, we will have cause to look…”

The minister, who faulted the way the privatisation of the power sector carried out by the immediate past administration of Goodluck Jonathan, said the sector was being plagued by several problems including gas supply shortfall and transmission issue.

Credit: Vanguard

Electricity Tariff Hike: Workers Begin Nationwide Protest

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Workers under the aegis of the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress have started a nationwide protest against the recent increase in electricity tariffs in the country. The NLC had called for the protest after repeatedly calling on the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission to suspend the recent increase in tariffs.

 

The NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, who described the tariff hike as outrageous, said it was the fifth in a row since 2012 and unacceptable.

 

In a statement calling for the protest Wabba said, “It is a nationwide protest, meaning that the 36 states of the Federation including Abuja will be involved in this action. Our members have been sufficiently mobilised and are ready to go. If you are an electricity consumer and you are not happy with the bills electricity companies serve you every month, you are invited to join this protest rally.”

 

Civil society groups and activists also expressed support for the protest and mobilised their members for it.

 

In Abuja, protesters could be seen carrying placards expressing their disdain for the tariff increase with some bearing such inscriptions as “We won’t pay more for darkness”.

 

Some of the workers came out as early as 7am for the protest, which started at the Labour House in the Central Business District Abuja. The workers are expected to protest at NERC offices and in the case of Abuja, the protest will extend to the National Assembly.

The NERC had introduced the new power tariff regime in December, outlining the various rates of increase in energy charges for consumers across the country. 

It also announced the removal fixed electricity charges for all classes of electricity consumers and noted that power users would only pay for what they consume.

The new tariffs became effective February 1.

Credit: Punch

Labour, Allies To Protest Hike In Electricity Tariff On Monday

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Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and its Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, alongside civil society allies, yesterday declared a nationwide protest for Monday, February 8, against the hike in electricity tariff by government, in spite of a subsisting court order and non-improvement in power supply.

 

 

During the planned protest, labour and its allies said all offices of the Distribution Companies, DISCOs; Generation Companies, GENCOs, nationwide and the office of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Agency, NERC, would be picketed.

 

 

Giving reasons for the protest, labour said: “The due process in the extant laws for such increment was not followed in consonance with section 76 of the Power Sector Reform Act, 2005. “There has been no significant improvement in service delivery. Moreover, the fact is that most consumers are not metered in accordance with the signed privatization Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, of November 1, 2013, which stipulates that within 18 months gestation period, all consumers are to be metered.

 

 

 

“There is a subsisting Court Order dated May 28, 2015, by Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, in the case of Toluwani Yemi-Adebiyi versus NERC & Orders, that there shall be no further increment until the determination of the substantive suit. The increment at this time negates the present biting and prevailing economic recession vis-a-vis an attempt to further impoverish the poor masses.”

 

 

 

In a statement signed by Mr. Ayuba Wabba, factional President of NLC, labour decried what it described as the 45 per cent increase in the electricity tariff as announced by NERC.

 

 

According to the statement, the protest “is a nation-wide protest, meaning that the 36 states of the federation, including Abuja, will be involved in this action. Our members have been sufficiently mobilized and are ready to go. If you are an electricity consumer and you are not happy with the bills electricity companies serve you every month, you are invited to join this protest rally.

 

 

 

“The Abuja rally will start at Labour House, Central Business District at 8.00am before moving to the NERC head office at Adamawa Plaza, Plot 1099, First Avenue, Off Shehu Shagari Way, Central Business District. From the NERC office, the rally will roll to the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company at Zone 4. The rally will mobilise from there to the National Assembly. “This protest rally has become necessary after all effort to make NERC shelve the idea of increase failed.

 

 

Indeed, rather than see reason with Nigerians, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing has been advancing spurious arguments in justification.”

 

 

Credit : Vanguard

FG Pushes For Electricity Tariff Increase

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Minister of Power, Works and Housing Mr. Babatunde Fashola,   said Nigerians should expect increase in electricity tariff in no distant time. This is as he also indicated the Ministry of Petroleum has signified their interest to build certain critical pipelines to transport gas to the power plants that will add another 2,000 mega watts to the national grid within 12-15 months.

According to him, “By far the most complex challenge is the problem of tariff. It is complex because it is more in the hands of citizens than in the hands of Government.

“The role of Government is to set the tariff and in doing so, Government has committed to what is called a Multi-Year Tariff Order. This was done in order to attract investors to the market; otherwise we will not have achieved the privatization if the price of the product is not attractive to the investors.

“The tariff is the price of producing power. It covers cost of generation, gas purchase, transportation, transformers, staff costs and so on, disaggregated and charged per kilowatt/hour to make the business of power profitable.

“What Government did was to spread it over a number of years so that the impact is not felt at once but over a periodic incremental process. I know that it has been a contentious matter, but I make this fervent appeal to consumers to give us the benefit of doubt, to forbear and accept it.

As regards transmission network, the Minister noted that the amount of power that is available today is slightly larger than the capacity which the transmission network can support. He said,  “We have identified a total of 142 (One Hundred and forty-two) projects of which  45 are at 50 percent level of completion  and about 22 (twenty-two) can be completed within a year.

“The budget estimates are known and we intend to aggressively pursue completion to increase the carrying capacity from the generating companies, GENCOs to the distribution companies, DISCOs.

Credit: Vanguard

New Electricity Tariff Out This Week- NERC

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Nigerians will this week know the new tariff for electricity, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) said at the weekend.

The regulatory agency said at a workshop in Abuja that it had considered the submissions of the 11 electricity distribution companies (Discos) in Nigeria’s electricity market, and would after a final regulatory meeting in the week, announce the new rates.

The Chairman of NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, said the regulator had held meetings with the Discos to finalise their respective tariff proposals. He said that the commission had also got feedbacks from both government and the Discos and would now conclude the process.

“We have gone to the Discos, gotten feedback; gone to government and gotten feedback. We have not finalised. In our view, we have basically done the crunching of numbers,” he said, adding: “It is not about tariff increase, it is also not about their financial outlay. We have done the technical work, remaining the regulatory work. By next week, we should sign off on the new tariff.”

Amadi’s disclosure follows that of Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, who last week announced that NERC and the 11 Discos had been directed to meet and come up with what he described as a fair market tariff.

Credit: ThisDay

Protesters Block Lagos Assembly Over Outrageous Electricity Tariff

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Residents of Lagos State, Nigeria on Monday blocked the two entrances to the State House of Assembly for hours refusing to leave until their grievances were addressed.

Armed with lanterns and placards against the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company, the protesters, under the auspices of Youth Alliance for better Nigeria, lamented that every month, they are made to pay huge sums of money as electricity bills when they hardly even get power supply.

Protesters staying put at Lagos State House of Assembly Photo: Eromosele Ebhomele

Protesters staying put at Lagos State House of Assembly.
Photo: Eromosele Ebhomele

Some of the placards read: “Outrageous bill, oppressive conduct of staff,” “Fashola save Nigerians from darkness,” “Enough exploutation of ten streets on a transformer,” “We need prepaid metres,” “Frustration of government effort to provide employment by not improving the epileptic power supply,” “Ikeja electricity should stop substandard prepaid metres and bult metres,” “If you cannot serve us, you should not exploit us,” “Dissolve NERC, withrraw ikeja electricity license and boost your party popularity,” “Buhari must dissolve Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission. Please do this for us,” and “When learning stops, liberation stops. We cannot read at night. Don’t kill the youths.”

The protesters got angry when hours after standing opposite the House, no lawmaker came out to address them.

They then decided to block the road which also leads to the Governor’s office sitting on the road to disallow vehicles from plying it.

Protesters staying put at Lagos State House of Assembly Photo: Eromosele Ebhomele

Protesters staying put at Lagos State House of Assembly
Photo: Eromosele Ebhomele

The protesters lamented that some areas in the Alimosho area of Lagos have not had power supply for months even though they pay bills monthly.

Leader of the group, Moruf Adegoke Niniola, said this was not the first time of storming the House of Assembly to protest against the high-handedness of the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company.

According to him, a delegation of the group had earlier met with the state government which set up a committee. He however said some top management staff of the IKEDC frustrated the move for an amicable solution.

“As I am talking to you, the committee is not sitting anymore. The last sitting of the committee was held on 2 October. Abule-Odu in Alimosho has not had power supply in more than three months.

“The IKEDC supplied pre-paid metres to customers but the metres have not been working. The company has not resorted to coded billing system or what you call estimated billing,” he said.

 

Addressing the protesters later after Monday sitting, the Majority Leader of the House, Sanai Agunbiade, who spoke on behalf of the Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, told the protesters that the struggle was a genuine move to ameliorate the plight of millions of Nigerians over epileptic power supply in the country.

While advising the protesters to make the fight a collective one rather than being selective, Agunbiade said: “the struggle is not meant for those who are here alone, it is a struggle for everybody.

“I do not want you to isolate your struggle. The moment some people in the struggle negate the belief, you can’t achieve the purpose.”

Agunbiade assured the group that the House would do everything possible to put the matter before the right quarters.

 

Credit : PM News