The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, says the Federal Government is still paying subsidy on electricity despite the recent hike in tariff paid by Band A customers said to be about 1.5 million of the total 12 million consumers in the sector.
The minister, who was a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Thursday, said the government has about N1.8trn to pay in electricity subsidy for 2024.
Adelabu insisted that the Electricity Act, 2023 made provisions for the review of tariff twice a year.
Contrary to claim by human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, that the increase in tariff paid by Band A consumers was illegal, Adelabu said, “Review of tariff is actually legal once it is within the exclusive responsibility of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC). The Act actually provides for review twice in a year, every six months.”
On claims in some quarters that the Federal Government had removed subsidy on electricity in 2022, Adelabu cited rising dollar, soaring gas price, the cost of power plant, transmission and distribution infrastructure, amongst others in the last two years.
“If we have been paying the tariff at the same level in the last two years, it logically means that someone has been paying the burden of all these increases,” he stated.
