Several types of electricity customers account for the nation’s electricity consumption. There are five main customer tariff classes in the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI): residential, commercial, industrial, special, and street lights.
Every customer class has its special characteristics, which are put into consideration in the tariff formulation process.
Click here to learn more about the tariff band classification
In the first quarter of 2021, the Distribution Companies (DisCos) increased electricity tariffs following the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) order.
DisCos were expected to improve their service delivery in line with their Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) and Service Based Tariff (SBT); however, a World Bank report which was released in the second quarter of the year revealed that electricity customers do not receive power according to their tariff classification. It also stated that about 80 per cent of Nigerians receive less than 12 hours of electric supply. This report was afterwards revoked by the Federal Government (FG).
The federal government acclaimed that every electricity customer receives electric power according to their tariff classification. To this end, a poll was conducted across The Electricity Hub’s social media platforms to discover how many customers receive electric power according to the number of hours in their tariff band.
From the poll, 29 per cent of electricity customers affirm that they receive the accurate number of hours according to their tariff classification. In comparison, 71 per cent attest to not receiving power according to their tariff classification.
Going by the poll results, one could agree with the World Bank’s report of more than half the country’s populace not receiving the appropriate amount of electricity.