Nigerians need stimulus not more hardship - Atiku rejects electricity tariff hike -

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has rejected the 100 percent increase in electricity tariffs in the country.

In a terse statement shared on his official social media pages on Thursday, the 2019 PDP presidential candidate described it as “ill-timed and ill-advised”.

Atiku said Nigerians were still grappling with the socio-economic downturn occasioned by COVID-19 and should be getting stimulus not additional hardship in form of electricity tariff hike.

He said, “‪I reject the increased electricity tariffs. Coming out of the lockdown, Nigerians need a stimulus, not an impetuous disregard for the challenges they face.

“Many Nigerians have not earned an income for months, due to no fault of theirs. This increase is ill-timed and ill-advised.‬”

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had approved increment of electricity tariffs taking effect from September 1.

However, on August 27, the regulator disclosed that electricity tariff reviews, going forward will only follow service-based principles.

Under these principles, Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs) will only be able to review tariff rates for customers when they consult with them and commit to increasing the number of hours of supply per day and quality of service.

NERC stated that in line with these expectations, DISCOs had been directed to engage with their customers on a Serviced Based Tariff structure, where DISCOs could only review tariffs for customers.

Going further, NERC says there will be no tariff change for the most vulnerable as tariffs for those consuming 50KW or less remain frozen.

Also, customers receiving less than 12 hours of power supply are expected not to experience any change in tariffs.