Former Presidential Candidate Wants Suspension Of Electricity Tariff

Prof. Peter Nwangwu, a former presidential candidate, African Democratic Congress (ADC), last  Saturday, advised the Federal Government to suspend the hike in electricity tariff, until the shortfall of electricity generation and distribution are addressed.

The PHCN on Friday rolled out a new electricity tariff regime in the country.

Nwangwu told our correspondent  in Lagos that electricity supply to Nigerians had been irregular.

“People are not billed for what they use. Right now the government makes people pay estimated bills every month, rather than the actual electricity consumed.

“In many areas, if people are billed based on what they actually consumed, the bill would be zero for the month because in those places, no light was supplied for the entire month.

“It is not good if PHCN continues to impose estimated bills on the people and extort money from them by threatening disconnection.”

The ADC Chieftain said that same PHCN customers had been paying estimated bills for the past three to five years, adding that the PHCH should not collect money for services not rendered.

Nwangwu suggested that the problem could be solved by prepaid meters, saying that, it was unfortunate that the meters were not available for the people.

He also suggested that where there were no prepaid meters, PHCN should read the analogue meters before giving electricity bill to anyone.

“If PHCN does not have the pre-paid meters everywhere to accurately prepare bills for services rendered, why does it  want to increase tariff?

“Government needs to create and stimulate competition in the generation and distribution of electricity.”

Nwangwu suggested that government should create competition in the power sector by opening it up for everyone with the capacity to invest in it.