Eko Electricity Distribution Company and Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company on Monday in Lagos hosted the Federal Government/Labour Ad-Hoc Committee on Electricity Tariff in a stakeholders’ engagement session to discuss the recent adjustment in electricity tariff.
The parley was part of the Federal Government follow-up engagement with the organised Labour on the recently introduced Service Reflective Tariff on September 1, 2020 and as part of the continuous engagement with the Nigerian Electricity Supply stakeholders.
The meeting was part of the committee’s oversight functions to gather reports and engage with stakeholders around the country with all members being involved in the decision making process.
The Committee will use the opportunity to visit the EKEDC office as well as that of Ikeja Electric.
In attendance at Monday’s meeting were the Minister of State for Labour and Committee Chairman, Festus Keyamo (SAN); Minister of State for Power, Godwin Jedy-Agba; Engr. Ahmed Rufai Zakari, Special Adviser to the President on Infrastructure and Committee Secretary; Engr. Adeoye Fadeyibi, MD of EKEDC; Kola Adesina, Chairman, Ikeja Electric; Comrade Joe Ajaero, Vice President, NLC; Engr. Chris Okonkwo, TUC representative; Customers of both DisCos; and other relevant Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry stakeholders.
In his speech, Keyamo said it was no longer sustainable for the country to continue the electricity subsidy and that a cost reflective tariff regime would attract investments in the sector and promote growth.
Issues discussed at the meeting hovered around electricity generation, metering, electricity infrastructure improvements as well improved welfare and training for electricity companies’ employees to improve efficiency and overall customer experience.
The Committee used the opportunity of the engagement to highlight the process involved in the tariff adjustment and assured that a full implementation of the new service reflective tariff would lead to mass development in the sector as it provides room for DisCos to invest more in the electricity sector and bridge the metering gap, citing the introduction of the National Mass Metering Programme as one of its numerous benefits of the new service regime.
Customers praised the efforts of the DisCos, emphasising their response rate to complaints and encouraged them to do more in terms of customer satisfaction.
Part of the resolution of the meeting was a directive to NEMSA to prepare for the certification and testing of the meters set to be rolled out by the National Mass Metering Programme, which will provide one million free prepaid meters to customers before the end of the 2021 first quarter and additional five million free prepaid meters afterwards.
The Union leaders expressed their satisfaction with the efforts of the Committee and advised that alternative funding metrics should be explored to reduce the sector’s dependence on foreign funding as pricing is heavily dependent on current foreign exchange.
The meeting was ended with all parties agreeing that cooperation is required to improve the sector and stakeholders should embrace further collaboration as a way forward.
