Nigeria’s Minister of State for Power, Goddy Jedy-Agba, has denied being aware of an indiscriminate increase in electricity tariffs by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.
He made this assertion at a public hearing on Electricity reform Bill.
At the hearing, members of the House Committee on Power and the Governors’ Forum were sharply divided over the constitutionality of setting up electricity regulatory agencies in states.
Months after the House Committee on Power rounded off work on a bill to amend the Electricity Power Sector Reform Act of 2005, it is holding this public hearing to hear from state governors, whose input had yet to be included.
The bill seeks to provide the legal and institutional framework for the implementation of rural electricity projects.
It also aims at establishing the National Power Training Institute and Regulatory provisions to strengthen the sector for efficient service delivery.
Electricity workers use the opportunity of the gathering to draw attention to the recent alleged indiscriminate increase in electricity tariffs imposed on consumers by the NERC, but the Minister claims ignorance of any such development.
The workers union in the sector kicked against the over the 3 trillion injected into the privatised electricity companies owned by individuals without commensurate increase in power generation in the last 10 years
In its presentation, the Governors’ Forum, seeks the right for states to establish electricity markets for themselves, especially with the deregulation of the Regulatory Commission.
