By Chidi Ugwu
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has announced its September 2024 Supplementary Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO), maintaining electricity rates unchanged.
Band A Tariff remains at N209/kWh, while Bands B to E have not seen any adjustments since December 2022.
A significant aspect of this order is the approval of a N26.4 billion subsidy for customers of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC).
Saturday Independent reports that the subsidy aligns with the federal government’s policy on electricity support, ensuring that tariffs for Bands B-E remain frozen for 2024, with the government covering the cost difference.
Additionally, NERC imposed a fine of N1.69 billion on AEDC for overbilling customers, indicating that AEDC had charged N16.9 billion more than allowed between January and September 2023, stressing that the fine will be deducted from AEDC’s operational expenses starting September 2024.
The new tariff structure took effect on September 1, 2024, reflecting NERC’s commitment to regulatory stability while addressing compliance issues within the electricity distribution sector.
NERC said: “In line with the policy direction of the federal government on electricity subsidy, the allowed tariffs for Bands B-E customer categories shall remain frozen at the rates payable since December 2022 subject to further policy direction by the government.
“With this policy, the estimated subsidy benefit customers under Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) franchise in 2024 is approximately N26.4billion monthly.”
NERC fined AEDC N1.69 billion owing to non-compliance with the capping of estimated bills and subsequent petition hearings and review of data.
“Pursuant to the commission’s Order NERC/2024/114 on non-compliance with the capping of estimated bills and subsequent petition hearings and review of data further provided by AEDC, the Commission has approved the deduction of N1.69billion from the total OPEX of AEDC effective from September 2024, being the 10% of the over billed amount by AEDC for the period covering January to September 203.”
