CONSUMERS TO GET NEW ELECTRICITY TARIFF SOON - NERC

Lagos, -  Dr Sam Amadi, Chairman of  Nigeria Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC), says electricity consumers should expect tariff review by June  this year.

Amadi disclosed this in a paper at the Business Environment Roundtable organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) in Lagos on Thursday.

The roundtable had the theme 'Private Sector Perspective on Power Sector Reforms'.

Amadi  said  that the commission had already started the methodology, valuation and cost analysis to ascertain the actual price per wattage in the new regime.

Amadi said that he could not specify whether the tariff would be reviewed downward or upward.

'I cannot say because it is not magic, but through adequate mathematic calculation,' he said.

According to him, the commission would send out the findings by April after the elections and conduct a public hearing to hear stakeholders' input to the regime.

He said that such sensitisation would also enable the stakeholders to understand the formula used in arriving at the new tariff.

'What is of paramount importance to the government and an average Nigerian is how to have adequate power supply,'' he said.

Amadi said that consumers and investors would be better off with the new tariff regime at the end of the day.

He said that the development would also encourage investors to invest in the power sector.

'The tariff regime, by law ought to be carried out in 2013; it was brought forward because of the ongoing reforms.

Mr Abimbola Onafowokan, a participant at the programme, said that most of the feasibility studies for the reforms had no local content because they werer done abroad.

He said that the major challenge facing the reforms was the uncertainty of gas pricing and which could erode the benefits of the reforms if not effectively. (NAN)