Electricity Tariff Hike: Scrap Bands A, B, C Nonsense – Economist, Ayalowo Tells Tinubu, NERC

A development economist, Ayo Ayalowo has asserted that President Bola Tinubu’s administration and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission need to discard bands A, B, and C due to the lack of adequate power supply experienced by Nigerians.

He said this on Tuesday during an interview on Channels Television.

He noted that increases in energy prices, such as electricity and diesel, are major propellants for soaring inflation in Nigeria.

According to him, the government should rejig its recently announced 240 per cent electricity tariff hike for Band A customers getting 20 hours of power supply.

He stressed that Nigerians are not getting the power supply despite the tariff hike.

“The energy prices, especially this Band A, Band B, and C nonsense, need to be jettisoned. And a sensible approach must be taken so that Nigerians can enjoy electricity at a reasonable cost. NERC needs to go back and rejig the tariff and stop the nonsense band classification because Nigerians are still not getting power supply”, he stated.

He suggested that the government should increase tariffs marginally for electricity customers nationwide.

“I will suggest that the Minister of Power and Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission would have increased tariff marginally across the board, not cheating Paul to pay Peter as they are doing”, he added.

Recall that on April 3, 2024, NERC announced a hike in the electricity tariff to N225 per kilowatt-hour from N66 for customers in Band A.

However, the hike was condemned by Nigerians, including the Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress, and other organisations.

Nigerians continued to lament that the power supply had dropped since the tariff hike.

On Monday, the country was plunged into another complete darkness due to the national grid collapse.

Meanwhile, the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, blamed the grid collapse on a fire incident, noting that power had been restored.