Nigerians to pay more for electricity from next month

Martin Ayankola and Rasheed Komolafe - 21.02.2008

NIGERIANS should prepare to pay more for electricity as there are strong indications that the Federal Government would approve the increase in tariff by March.

Minister of State for Power, Mrs Fatima Balarabe Ibrahim, said in Abuja on Wednesday that the Federal Government would finalise by March all issues relating to the multi-year tariff order, which the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had hinted it would soon introduce.

Nigerians currently pay a minimum of N4 per unit of electricity and a maximum of N6.
She explained that the review of the tariff would help to ensure investors recover cost and make profit.

Mrs. Ibrahim noted that inappropriate pricing of electricity was hampering investments in the sector.

The minister, who was delivering a paper on power generation as a catalyst for economic growth and diversification in Nigeria at the Nigeria Oil and Gas 2008, stressed that government had a plan to rehabilitate old plant units in the power stations to shore up Nigeria's power generation to 5,800 megawatts, while also intensifying efforts to further generate 6,000 megawatts from new projects.

She said government was working hard at expanding the transmission network to be able to achieve 10,000 megawatts of electricity.

Mrs. Ibrahim said government had received concrete proposals for investments in the power sector, which included the construction of a coal-fired power station, contract financing of some projects and others.

She stated that government was working hard at solving problem of gas supply to power stations soonest.