Electricity distribution companies (DiSCos) have stated that Band A customers in the country enjoy the lowest price in West Africa, despite the recent hike.
Raye24reporters recalls that the hike in electricity tariff made headlines in May when the government said it would stop subsidising power for some customers.
Customers who enjoyed at least 20 hours of daily power supply were categorised into Band A users. While they initially paid N225/kwh, it was reviewed to be about N209.80/kwh.
Notwithstanding the outrage and backlash from many Nigerians, the Federal Government insisted that subsidy on electricity is unsustainable.
However, the spokesman of the country’s 11 electricity distribution companies under the umbrella of the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), Sunday Oduntan, in an interview on Channels Television’s Lunchtime Politics, said the tariff for Band A is still lower when compared to other countries in West Africa.
He said, “Even the band A customers who are currently paying the highest in Nigeria, they pay the lowest tariff in the whole of West Africa.”
According to Oduntan, electricity consumers in neighbouring countries like the Benin Republic, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Ghana enjoy better output because they “pay for it.”
The ANED spokesperson argued that the power sector needs funds to invest and improve electricity subsidy.
He added, “That is why the people supplying are able to recover their cost.
“That is why they are able to get enough capital to reinject into the system. So, it is very simple.”
