New electricity tariff fraudulent, exploitative, anti-people --- Coalition

 THE Coalition for Affordable and Regular Electricity, CARE, has described the 230 per cent electricity tariff by the Federal Government as fraudulent, exploitative and anti-people and demanded its immediate reversal, saying “there is hardly any community which is exclusively for the rich.”

Recall that the government through the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, last week imposed a fresh hike in electricity tariff for what it termed ‘Band A consumers’ by a whopping 230 per cent - from N68 Kwh to N225 Kwh. 

According to NERC, this tariff hike affects about 15 percent of the total consumers and be targeted at the so-called rich people. 

But CARE in a statement by its National Coordinator, Chinedu Bosah, insisted “The reality is that there is hardly any community which is exclusively for the rich. These communities have many workers, pensioners and urban poor people who are residents or shop owners and will be affected adversely. Besides, this tariff which affects many big companies will translate into higher cost of production or business and will be passed on to workers and the poor as higher prices of goods and services. As a result, the current cost of living crises will be further aggravated, potentially throwing more working people into poverty. Therefore, the new tariff should be rejected by working people and youth. CARE, condemns this hike and demand reversal.

“Electricity for industries and many businesses in Nigeria reportedly constitute 40 per cent or more of the total cost compared to 10 per cent in China. This huge cost is one major reason many companies closed down and relocated abroad contributing to a high unemployment rate. Hence, it is not true that the outrageous tariff hike for Band A will exclusively affect the rich and middle class, it will also affect workers and the poor. This anti-poor Tinubu-led government is all out to protect the profit and greed of a few while it cares less about Nigerian workers and the poor.

“Besides, the agenda is also to create an apartheid-styled electricity distribution system entrenched in massive exploitation. This means communities dominated by the middle class and the rich get 20 hours or more electricity daily while communities dominated by workers and the poor get little or no electricity daily. In this type of unfair, discriminative electricity supply, Band A which constitutes about 15 percent may get about 50 percent or more of the electricity supply while 85 percent of the other consumers may get less than 50 percent of the electricity supplied. The power sector was built and funded by Nigerian taxpayers who include Nigerian workers and the poor but it is a case of robbing Peter (workers/poor) to pay Paul (the rich). Every Nigerian deserves equal, affordable and uninterrupted power supply irrespective of social status. The government can tax the rich progressively more than the workers but social amenities like education, healthcare, electricity etc must be distributed equally to all.   

“The outrageous tariff hike for Band A is coming after some months NERC increased tariffs for some other Bands. Customers in Abuja are now forced to pay N63.24/kWh; some customers in the states covered by Enugu Electricity Distribution Plc, EEDC, will pay N59/kWh; tariff for some customers within Ikeja Electric coverage will pay N56.60/kWh; some customers with Benin Electricity Distribution will pay N60.10/kWh. Across the 11 Distribution Companies, the increment ranges from N55/kWh to N63/kWh, which is an average of N60/kWh and represents an average of 20 percent. These tariff hikes are coming at a period of immense economic crises and growing poverty; they will also engender more financial hardship, inflation, and an increase in the growing cost of production and services while more people will be disconnected due to their inability to pay the new tariff.”