The Chairman of NERC, Dr Sam Amadi, who was speaking yesterday at a final public consultation on the tariff review in Abuja where Distribution companies (Discos) proposed tariff increases ranging from 5per cent to 83 per cent for residential customers, said it was important that a cost reflective tariff is in place for the sector.
Amadi assured consumers that the commission would not allow the Discos to recover more than necessary, noting that any increase in tariff would be backed by a commitment contract by the discos on service improvement.
According to Amadi, NERC would review the proposals by the Discos and come out with a new tariff regime that ensures that prudent costs by the operators are recovered and at the same time ensures that consumers are protected from undue exploitation.
He said: "What we have done as a responsible regulator is to advance information to consumers and get the kind of feedback we are getting today, I have said it before that this kind of feedback is good for us so that we can be able to gauge the quality of service.
"So what we have done today is to be pro-active, to say to the consumers look at what they have given to us and give us your feel. Ultimately we will go through a proper review and approve a tariff. But even before then we still have to also send it to the government to say, not for the purpose of changing the tariff, but let them know the social economic implication.
"For example, Yola where there is high tariff increase because of obvious security and structural issues, there could be some policy outcome, do we need to provide some subsidy, do we need to hire a management contractor to reduce the level of inefficiency and some others," he explained.
The NERC Chairman, further assured consumers that their views would have huge impact on the final review of the tariff.
Earlier, consumer groups expressed opposition to the planned increase by the discos, insisting that service must improve first, before tariffs are adjusted.
Source: Leadership
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