The Minister of Power, Sale Mamman said on Tuesday that Nigerians are expected to pay higher electricity tariff from July 2020.
The minister disclosed this in his presentation at an investigative public hearing on: “Power Sector Recovery Plan and the Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic” organized by the Senate Committee on Power, in Abuja.
The Minister noted the controversial increase would have taken effect in April 2020 but was postponed till July 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and widespread “apathy” towards the increase by Nigerians.
“The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has also affected our laid out plan for the repositioning of the electricity market towards financial sustainability under the Power Sector Recovery Programme (PSRP).
“Initially, the Regulator, following the completion of public consultation on tariff review, planned on conducting a tariff review in April 2020.
“However, due to COVID-19 and customer apathy, the proposed tariff review was delayed by 3 months.
“The impact of this means the subsidy being incurred in maintaining the current tariff level had to be maintained till July 2020 when the proposed tariff review will be implemented.” Mamman said.
