The Eko Electricity Distribution
Company on Saturday urged electricity
consumers to brace up for upward
adjustment in tariffs to partly meet
reality of the prevailing economic
situation.

Oladele Amoda, the EKEDC’s Chief
Executive Officer, made the plea in
Lagos at a stakeholders’ consultative
forum to rub minds with the customers
on the need to adjust electricity tariffs.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports
that currently, the company is charging
N26 per kilowatts for a residential
building.

Justice Mohammed Idris of Federal
High Court in Lagos had on Thursday
renewed an earlier order restraining the
Nigerian Electricity Regulatory
Commission from implementing the
new electricity tariff.

NERC had proposed tariff increase
effective from June 1, but the judge
restrained NERC and the electricity
distribution companies from making
any increment in electricity tariff.

Idris gave the order in a ruling on an
ex-parte application filed by a Lagos
lawyer, Toluwani Adebiyi, against
increase in electricity tariff.

EKEDC chief said: “There is no way we
can have stable power supply without
adjusting our tariffs because currently
we are running at a loss.

“The company is being run at a loss
since its inception because our
investors had invested lots of money
into the system, which has not
reflected on the supply distribution
chain to the customers.

“When you look at the economic
indices, there is high increase of
dollars in terms of exchange rate
against naira, while prices of other
things have also gone up.

“Most of our equipment like
transformers, cables, lines and so on
are being imported and the cost effect
of rising dollars had affected the cost
of these materials.

“Gas supply is also another issue,
which has been increased drastically
by gas suppliers, and they now feel
reluctant to sell gas to industrialists
due to price differential.

“Except Federal Government stabilises
the prices of gas and other things like
importation, that is the only way the
tariff adjustment can be stopped.

“But we cannot just commence
increase of electricity tariff without
informing the regulators, which will in
turn fix the appropriate tariffs.”

In their responses, Sunday Durosimi,
who represented Festac Housing
Estate; and Oluwole Alfred, the
representative of Lekki Estate, advised
the company to have a rethink on the
adjustment initiative.

They said customers would not take it
lightly with the company if after the
tariff adjustment there was no
improvement in the electricity supply
within their networks.

(NAN)