Oscarline Onwuemenyi
28 October 2016, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), the umbrella body for the 11 electricity distribution companies in the country, on Wednesday, said it has no plan to increase the current tariff being paid by consumers.
In a statement obtained by our correspondent in Abuja, the ANED Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, Mr. Sunday Oduntan, said that the Distribution Companies had not submitted any proposal to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on tariff increase.
He said, “It is not true that we want to increase the tariff by 200 per cent because we do not have any right to do so. When you talk about tariff review or increase, it is the responsibility of a regulator and that work belongs to NERC.
“We should understand how the system works because it is the work of the regulator to decide whether there should be tariff review and not Discos.”
Oduntan, however, urged the National Assembly to reconsider the stoppage of the bond provided by government in order to address the liquidity challenge facing the power sector.
“We are not asking for subsidy but that government should step in and provide a bond,” he said.
Oduntan said that the business of electricity distribution were presently not bankable because no bank would lend Discos money with the huge deficits in their books.
