The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has frozen the newly approved tariff for residential consumers till June 2015.
This was contained in a statement signed by Michael Faloseyi, the NERC’s Head of Media, and made available to newsmen on Thursday.
The statement said the tariff, which was signed, was a review of the Multi Year Tariff Order 2 to factor the losses that were now different.
It said that the new price of gas was usually part of the minor review done every six months.
The statement said that the review had raised the cost of distributing power supply nationwide by the 11 electricity Distribution Companies.
It said the tariff was expected to increase for all electricity consumers.
The statement by Faloseyi said: “But because of the commitment that NERC to ensure that consumers are not further disposed to increased cost until there are improvements in supply, which we expect shortly, we have frozen the increment for six months for Residential consumers (R2).
“We approved an amendment to the MYTO tariff basically which means a new tariff order that continues with the existing framework but now shows a different figure for the remaining five year tariff structure.”
It said with the commencement of MYTO 2.1, NERC would hold electricity distribution, transmission, generation companies and other market operators to the terms and conditions of their licences.
The statement said the measures were being put in place to ensure that the new owners fund their operations and improve electricity supply.
It said the rationale behind the adjustment was to shield ordinary Nigerians from possibility of rates shock that could have accompanied the review.
“The review is imperative on account of the take off date of January 1, 2015 for the transition electricity market and the memorandum of understanding between the CBN and the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry,” the statement said.
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