The
Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, said on Monday that a
new tariff regime on gas supply to electricity producers in the country
will to come into effect on Tuesday.
The Chairman of the
Commission, Sam Amadi, said in Abuja that based on the new arrangement,
manufacturers and other business owners in the country would henceforth
be paying higher electricity prices.
The
Chairman, who did not disclose what the new tariff would be, said that
it would not adversely affect residential electricity consumers who are
expecting a hike in electricity bills in line with the Multi Year Tariff
Order, MYTO, the template guiding adjustments of electricity tariffs in
the country.
The disclosure came as the Central Bank of
Nigeria, CBN, signed a N213 billion financing agreement with some
deposit money banks, DMBs, to offset their legacy debts that accrued
from their past interventions in the power sector, to open new credit
lines to old and new investors in the industry.
The CBN, along
with key players in the power sector, including gas suppliers,
electricity distribution and generation companies, had, on November 18,
signed the N213 billion definitive agreement for the implementation of
the CBN-Nigeria Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility, NEMSF.
But
Mr. Amadi said the pending new gas tariff regime would ensure adequate
supply of gas to power plants towards improved and sustained power
supply to attract new investors into the sector.
Though the new
arrangement would translate to higher cost of business, and producers of
goods and services would naturally transfer part of the cost to
consumers, he said the impact on consumers, by way of higher prices for
goods and services, would not be immediate.
Credit: Bassey Udo/PremiumTimes
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