– The federal government has said that it will not approve a fresh electricity tariff hike at least for now
– The government says it is still meeting with stakeholders in the country’s electricity sector
– This was made known by the minister of power, works and housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola
The federal government has said that it will not approve a fresh electricity tariff hike at least for now.
No electricity tariff hike for now – Fashola
The government says it is still meeting with stakeholders in the country’s electricity sector including the World Bank to provide some level of financial interventions to the market.
This was made known by the minister of power, works and housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola who appeared on Channels Television breakfast show, Sunrise Daily, yesterday, January 9.
A report by Thisday late last year revealed that the government and the World Bank had initiated efforts to bail the country’s power sector from the existing liquidity challenges threatening its survival.
READ ALSO: Power lost N1.578 billion as at January 7, 2017
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) is expected to, this month, announce new cost-reflective electricity rates to reflect current operational indices in the industry.
Statutorily, NERC undertakes periodic reviews of the tariff to factor in changes in operational indices like foreign exchange and inflation rates, price of gas for power, as well as changes in generation capacities.
The minister, however, stated that if the government’s deliberations with the World Bank on the financial challenges of the market end well, Nigerians would be protected from a possible electricity price hike.
His words: “Government still has to deal with how to stabilise the value of
“We have used our leverage in OPEC to get OPEC to agree to a production cut, which heralded a price rise but can we as a protagonist take advantage of this by stopping to fight?
“People must be clear that if government accepts the recommendations that we will make to intervene, it is not to give the Discos a golden parachute, but first to protect citizens from price hike in terms of power for now and also to keep the subsectors so that they don’t lose their businesses.”
Providing an insight to the deliberations with the World Bank, Fashola said: “You would have heard that there are liquidity issues in the power sector that came from the way the privatisation itself was structured, essentially through bank loans. Most of the people who bought them had very little if any skin in the game in terms of their own private equity.”
READ ALSO: How agricultural waste conversion can help fix Nigeria’s power supply
In a related development, the minister of state, aviation, Captain Hadi Sirika has said the challenge of power failure at airports across the country would be addressed with the 2017 budget.
According to the minister, the 2017 Budget has provision for alternative electricity power supply, should there be failure from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) at the airports.
360naze
No comments:
Post a Comment