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Nigerian regulator suspends electricity tariff increase
NIGERIA
THE Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commis- sion (NERC) has halted the proposed increase in electricity tariffs originally set for April.
“There shall be no increase in tariffs of end- use customers on April 1, 2020,” the commission said in a new order.
The NERC had announced in January that tariff would be increased in April.
The decision comes after Nigerian Presi- dent Muhammadu Buhari put in place a series of emergency measures to freeze proposed reforms to certain national facilities during the current global economic crisis and coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
He said on national television on March 29 that power generation, transmission and dis- tribution companies would be among those granted exemptions from certain policy deci- sions until after the lockdown period.
The lockdown, which is for an initial 14 days, was declared in order to curb the continued spread of COVID-19 in Nigeria.
The regulator also said that the current COVID-19 pandemic had had a significant impact on the power sector. There was now a shortage of imported components to manufac- ture meters for supply to customers under the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) Regulations.
Meanwhile, the NERC still insisted that the country’s distribution companies (Discos) should continue to provide revenue recovery and financial sustainability plans as before.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria shall provide tariff support during the transitional
period to full revenue recovery ending on June 30, 2021 based on the under-recovery of the rev- enue requirement determined by the commis- sion,” NERC added.
NERC has subsequently ordered all the Dis- cos to submit a detailed plan for the full recovery of prudent costs and allowed return on capital by June 30, 2021.
It added that the revenue recovery and finan- cial sustainability plans should be submitted at the latest by April 21, 2020.
“All future tariff reviews shall be on the basis of consultations between the Disco and cus- tomer clusters with firm commitments on rates andqualityofservice.”
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said that NERC would have been insen- sitive if it had announced the planned tariff hike.
The President of the NLC, Ayuba Wanna, explained that at a recent interactive session with NERC in Kano State all the leaders of the NLC’s affiliate unions were against the planned increase in the electricity tariff.
He said the NLC “completely condemns and totally rejects any plan to inflict further pain on Nigerians at this very trying period of the novel coronavirus pandemic through [an] increase in electricity tariff.”
“We wish to state that any increase in electric- ity tariff would only convey a deafening expres- sion of insensitivity to the plight of the Nigerian people who are currently dealing with the social scare, income haemorrhage, economic squeeze and mortal dread of COVID-19,” he added.™
RENEWABLES
Scatec solar seals investment guarantee deal for Egypt’s Benban
EGYPT
THE World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) is to support Scatec Solar’s six new solar plants with 390 MW of capacity at Egypt’s Benban Solar Park.
MIGA is to provide $52.35mn of guarantees to cover Scatec Solar’s investment from currency inconvertibility and transfer restriction for up to 15 years.
The new plants are part of Egypt’s landmark solar feed-in tariff (FiT) programme, which is mobilising private investments to build one of the world’s largest solar photovoltaic (PV)
generation parks.
“In the face of uncertainty arising from the
COVID-19 pandemic, MIGA remains commit- ted to helping drive foreign direct investment [FDI] by supporting investors who are helping Egypt achieve its long-term goals of diversifying its energy mix,” MIGA executive vice-president Hiroshi Matano said.
He added: “To date, MIGA has issued $145mn in coverage to support Egypt’s FiT programme.”
The new projects consist of six solar power
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