Electricity consumers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja on Tuesday kicked against the planned review of tariff by the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC).
AEDC had in a newspaper advertisement notified its consumers in the FCT, Kogi, Nasarawa and Niger states of its plans to review tariff.
Consumers said that they would only accept a downward review.
One of them, Mr Istifanus Msheilia, a fashion designer, said that AEDC should be thinking of improving on power supply and providing pre-paid meters to customers instead of reviewing tariff.
“I think what the distribution company needs to do now is to see how it can improve on its supply to the consumers and not thinking of increase in tariff.’’
Msheilia said that what consumers wanted from the company now was uninterrupted power supply to every home.
Another consumer, Edache Ocheme, a civil servant, urged the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission to ensure that it monitored activities of the company closely.
“The plans by the AEDC to review tariff calls for close monitoring of the company and all other distribution companies in the country that may be having such plans.’’
Ocheme noted that the issue of reviewing tariff upward would not be a problem if consumers would have stable power supply at their homes and businesses.
A hair-dresser, Mrs Patricia Ibrahim, advised AEDC to discard the idea of reviewing electricity tariff upward for now and concentrate on boosting supply.
“The company’s management should drop the idea of increasing its tariff and focus on providing improved service to the consumers.’’
She said that any further tariff review would put many consumers using electricity for their businesses out of business.
A welder, Malam Ahmed Labo, said that the AEDC was not considerate in its review of electricity tariff.
He noted that most consumers were currently not meeting up with the payment of their bills.
“The review will be like adding salt to an injury that is already hurting the victim,’’ Labo said.
AEDC had announced on its website that the company needed to review tariff to serve consumers better.
“We have come up with principles for how we will set prices to be fair to our customers. We hope our prices will be affordable to you now and in future.
“We don’t set our prices on our own. We are regulated by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, who will decide if what we ask you to pay is fair,’’ AEDC said.
Meanwhile, power generation in the country has risen above 4,000 megawatts (mw) after hovering between 3,368.44 megawatts and 4,000 megawatts since June 15, according to a source in the Ministry of Power.
The source said that after weeks of nationwide blackout, the nation’s power generation picked up a little, rising from 3,368.44 megawatts to 4,000 megawatts in the last few days.
He said that the country recorded less cases of pipeline vandalism in May and June.
“This is because the communities where the pipeline passes are more vigilant towards adequate surveillance of the pipeline networks,’’ the source said.
He explained that the industry had a near smooth supply of gas to the power plants and recorded a marginal rise in the generation of electricity due to less interruption of power installations.
“The slight improvement has been attributed to improvement in gas supply,’’ the source said.
He said that poor power generation in the last six months had been attributed to frequent vandalism of oil pipelines and destruction of vital infrastructure supplying gas to electricity generation plants.
The source said that in March, the country lost about 800 Mw of electricity as a result of the blasting of the Escravos – Lagos Gas Pipeline (ELGP) on March 11, 2015.
He said that the damage was done by vandals who ruptured the ELGP with an explosive device at Egwa, near Batan, Gbaramatu Kingdom, Delta State.
The ministry source said that the attack was the fourth in the year, adding that it came hours after the repairs of a pipeline earlier attacked was completed.
Figures obtained from the federal Ministry of Power showed that the country’s peak generation was 4,011.4MW, while energy generation was put at 3,540.42mw.
Energy sent out was 3,465.36mw.
Peak generation consists of the quantum of electricity held as spinning reserves and the amount of energy sent out to electricity distribution firms.
The country usually holds some quantum of electricity as spinning reserves in case of an emergency.
Peak demand and highest peak generated power were 12,800mw and 4,517mw, respectively in March 31.
