The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, has ruled out the possibility of increasing electric tariff without adequate provision of meters.
He said for the customers to pay the correct tariff for the power they consume, the suppliers have to defray the distrust by first providing meters for consumers to know what they are paying for.
Fashola, who addressed a press conference in Abuja, also reiterated that privatization of the power sector was the way forward, saying that he remained convinced that Nigerians will reap its dividends and sector will be better for it.
According to him, before privatization, all activities in the power sector and functions were substantially government business; which was run as a monopoly through the Power Holdings Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
He, however, gave the electricity distribution companies otherwise known as DisCos the marching order to deliver power to customers or exit the electricity market.
He said: “ I remain convinced that privatization is the way forward, and just as it succeeded in other sectors, I remain convinced that it will deliver in power too. When privatization occurred in other sectors, those that cannot compete left the industry gloriously without bringing down the sector.
“In this regard, Discos must compete to deliver or exit, they should also improve their collections remmittance”.
Explaining power and supply forces, he said: “Before privatization, all these functions were substantially government business, it was run as a monopoly through the Power Holdings Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
“ This means that government generated power from various gas and hydro-power plants, and are transported and distributed through the many stations across Nigeria, without due consultant and collect all the money.
“But, that was in the past, privatization has changed all that. Government has sold some of the power generation plants to six generation companies called GENCOs and sold the distribution access to eleven distribution companies called the DISCOs with the sole responsibility of supplying the generated electricity, makes provisions for meters and collect the money.
“Government has given the transmission responsibility to a company called the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), from this, it must be obvious to the ordinary persons that supply of power is now a private business in the hands of private operators and at the farther end, in the hands of distributors.
“Meanwhile, because of the critical and sensitive nature of power supply, government has not left the supply solely to the distributors. Government at Federal, State and Local government holds 40 % of shares in DISCOs.
“ In addition to that, government is responsible for regulating the behavior and compliance through the Nigeria Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC), which is like what the Central Bank is to the Banking sector and what the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission is to the media.
“Transmission has increased from 5,000 Megawatts in 2015 to over 7,124 Megawatts in 2017 making it an increase of 1,052 average yearly increased.
“Also, in the area of distribution, over 2,680 Megawatts in 2015 to 5, 222 in 2018 wioth about 844 Megawatts per annum”.