Electricity Tariff: ‘They said its a slight increase, we now pay triple’

Nigerians have continued to groan over the ‘exorbitant’ hike in the electricity tariff implemented by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.

NERC, which approved the tariff for the electricity distribution companies (DisCos), had said that the hike was between N2 and N4, but a cross-section of consumers who had recharged their meters recently, insisted the increase was above N4.

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Daily Trust polled Nigerians to find out how the hike has affected their consumption of electricity.

A total 494 people participated in the poll and 45.3 percent stated that they pay double what they used to pay before the hike.

Some 36.4 percent noted that the tariff had tripled while 11.3 percent stated that they only experience a slight increase.

And 6.9 percent of the respondents said their tariff remained the same.

Have you experienced changes in your electricity tariff since 2021 began? Have you had to pay more to get the equivalent of the units you got in 2020?

Kindly engage this poll and, share your experience in the comments.

— Daily Trust (@daily_trust) February 16, 2021

A Twitter user, @BigMikeforyou stated that “the hike of electricity tariff has doubled compared to the previous year. Earlier we get almost 80 unit at 2k but now is 45 unit for 2k. Now we no longer use iron and other electronic devices that consume huge amount of electricity.”

In an earlier report by Daily Trust, another Twitter user, Richard Daniel under Port Harcourt DisCo, said he often gets 153.9 units when he recharges his meter with N5000 worth of token. However, that has reduced to 88 units now, indicating 42 per cent increase.

Shamsudeen Ibrahim, a resident in Abuja under Abuja DisCo, said previously, N10,000 vending got him 386 units as of November but he only got N197 units recently.
“That is about a 49 per cent increase. We are just being deceived that the increment is not more than N4.”

The hike of electricity tarfiff has had double compared to previous year. Earlier we get almost 80 unit at 2k but now is 45 unit for 2k. Now we no longer use iron and other electronics devices that consume huge amount of electricity..

— Al Buruni (@BigMikeforyou) February 16, 2021

I was paying N2,178.68, now i pay N7,387.07. I just feel like disconnecting my light and go solar after all what am i using?

— Monday Omini (@mondayd78) February 16, 2021

We buy N10,000 worth units every week. That's approximately 40,000 a month

— Priscilla Agada (@Acillagad) February 16, 2021

However, NERC has urged customers to file complaints of increment.

“Any customer that has been impacted by any rate increases beyond the above provision of the tariff order (between N2 and N4) should report to the Commission,” it said.