For Band A users, the Federal Government has increased the cost of electricity.
Those in Band A get access to power for twenty hours a day.
Musliu Oseni, Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), announced the hike at a news conference in Abuja on Wednesday. Customers will now pay ₦225 kilowatts per hour instead of the existing ₦66.
According to Oseni, these consumers make up 15% of the nation’s 12 million electricity users.
He continued by saying that certain Band A customers had also been demoted by the commission to Band B for failing to use the electricity supplied by the electrical distribution firm for the required number of hours.
We currently have 800 feeders classified as Band A, but this will be reduced to under 500. This means that 17% are now classified as Band-A feeders. These feeders serve only 15% of the total number of electrical users connected to them.
“The commission has issued an order which is titled April supplementary order and the commission allows a 235 kilowatt per hour.”
He clarified that the review will have no effect on customers on other bands.
According to Bloomberg, power firms would be able to boost electricity bills for urban consumers from N68 to N200 ($0.15) per kilowatt hour.
According to those familiar with the subject, this was done in order to encourage new investment and save approximately $2.3 billion in tariff subsidies.
According to the news agency, “Nigerians will now have to pay $2.42 per one million British thermal units, up from the previous rate of $2.18 MMBtu.”
The hike comes after the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) announced on Monday that natural gas to power prices would rise.
Grid Collapse
A week ago, the nation was plunged into darkness when the national grid failed for the second time this year.
The first incidence took place on February 4.
Nigeria has faced issues in the energy sector for decades due to its ever-increasing population.
According to data from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), the grid failed about 4:00 p.m., dropping from 2,984 megawatts (MW) to zero in an hour, with all 21 plants connected to the grid ending operations by 5:00 pm.
Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) appealed to consumers for understanding after establishing that the present power outage was caused by a technical malfunction on the national grid.
“The system collapsed at about 16:28 hours today 28 March 2024, causing the outage currently being experienced across our franchise area,” AEDC said in a tweet to its Twitter account.
We ask for your understanding as all stakeholders work hard to restore regular supply.”
According to the Energy Progress Report 2022 published by Tracking SDG 7, Nigeria had the lowest access to electricity internationally, with an estimated 92 million of the country’s population lacking access to power.