Senate asks FG to suspend electricity tariff hike

The Senate on Tuesday told the Federal Government to suspend the planned electricity tariff hike over hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

The tariff hike is expected to take off in July, according to the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

However, the Senate commended the federal government for establishing the N1.7 trillion COVID-19 Crisis Intervention Fund.

The upper legislative chamber also urged the government to include the power sector in the disbursement of the fund.

The Senate’s resolution followed the adoption of a motion on “Power Sector Recovery Plan and Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic” sponsored by former Governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam.

While leading debate on the general principles of the bill, Suswam said stable and the uninterrupted power supply was a critical factor in the management of COVID-19 patients at isolation and treatment centres nationwide.

He added that uninterrupted electricity was also key in the proposed upgrade of health facilities and in the manufacturing sector of the economy.

According to him, if the negative impact of COVID-19 on the sector continues without any emergency financial intervention from the federal government, the Distribution Companies (DisCos) may not meet their remittance obligation to the electricity market.

He said the financial obligation of Generating Companies (GenCos) and gas to power suppliers would also be negatively impacted.

The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, said that it was obvious that the DisCos had no capacity at the moment to supply power to Nigerians.

He said: “The way it is, I think there is a need to review this privatization and see what has really happened because something is certainly not right.”