By Kenneth Jukpor
Nigerian citizens would have to brace themselves for tougher economic times as the federal government has just effected an increase in Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) as well as electricity tariff.
Pipelines and Products Marketing Company Limited (PPMC) revealed that the petrol price increased from N148 per litre to N151 per litre.
The Company disclosed this in a statement to depot operators yesterday, noting that the new pricing took effect immediately.
PPMC, in a letter titled, ‘Re: Product Pricing’, said, “Please be informed that a new product price adjustment has been effected on our payment platform. To this end, the price of PMS is now N151.56 per litre. This is effective 2nd September, 2020.”
The information was also disseminated to Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Retail, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Major Marketers depot managers and other stakeholders.
In another development, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) approved an increase in electricity tariff which took effect from Tuesday, September 1, 2020.
This came three months after the tariff hike implementation slated for July 1 was halted by the National Assembly, which prevailed on the distribution companies to shelve the date to the first quarter of 2021 due to the current economic challenges in Nigeria.
According to an NERC document, the new tariff is based on the hours of electricity supply available to the customers as those receiving less than 12 hours of supply, would have to pay more for electricity from September 1, 2020.
Customers are categorised into maximum demand and non-maximum demand customers, as against the previous categories of residential, commercial and industrial customers, with different bands (A to E) depending on the level of supply.
For Ikeja Electric, a residential customer on single-phase receiving a minimum of 12 hours of supply will now pay N42.73 per KWh, up from N21.30 per kWh.
Under the Eko Electricity Distribution Company, a residential customer on single-phase receiving a minimum of 12 hours of supply will now pay N43.01 per kWh, up from N24 per kWh.
At Electricity Distribution Company, a residential customer on single-phase receiving between 12 to 16 hours of supply will now be charged N45.69 per KWh, up from N24.30 per kWh.
Kaduna Electric announced on Twitter on Monday night that non-MD receiving between 12 and 16 hours will be charged N50.10 per KWh, adding that the tariffs for customers receiving less than 12 hours had been temporarily frozen.
“Following consultations and directions on tariff policy, the commission hereby approves a deferment of the applicable tariffs for customers in service bands D and E (that is customers with a service commitment of less than an average of 12 hours supply per day over a period of one month) for the period September 1, 2020 to January 1, 2021,” NERC said.
NERC, however, stated that the Discos would only be allowed to charge those customers the new tariffs upon investments that improve the quality of service experience, “thus migrating customers to higher service bands or another order of the commission.”
