High electricity tariff takes effect July 1, says Ikeja Electric
Nigerians have been warned to brace up for higher electricity charges from July 1, according to a statement by Ikeja Electric (IE).
A statement by the head of corporate communications for the electricity distribution company, Felix Ofulue, said the tariff would be service reflective,an argument many Nigerians have been skeptical about.
“This is in line with our Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) across the entire network in the coming months and years.
“The different service levels to all categories of electricity consumers will also be accompanied by a change in tariff which has taken into cognisance changes in macroeconomic indices in the country.
“This will enable all the market players (Generation, Transmission, Distribution and gas suppliers) in the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry cover cost of their operations and ensure improved service delivery.
“For the purpose of customer classification, customers will now be categorised into maximum demand customers (MD) and non-maximum demand (Non-MD) customers, and will no longer be the usual residential, commercial and industrial customer classes.
“All customers have now been clustered into different bands depending on the level of service currently being enjoyed.
”Customers who are in the higher band currently being provided with good electricity supply will be expected to pay the true costs of the services being enjoyed.
“Customers who are within the lower band and are not receiving optimal services will be expected to pay a much lower tariff pending improvements in services and the movement to a higher tariff band reflecting improved service delivery, ” he said.
“In recent times, we have doubled our efforts to realise our objective of metering our unmetered customers within the shortest possible time.
“We also note that complaints resolution by customers have been a concern in the past but this is set to improve as we move forward with this new tariff regime
“Lastly, this tariff implementation is subject to the approval of the regulator but it is necessary for performance improvement expected by customers,” he said.
