The leadership of the National Assembly has persuaded the management of Distribution Companies (DISCOs) to postpone the hike in electricity tariffs scheduled to take effect from July 1, 2020.
This is according to a statement on Monday by the Special Adviser to the Senate President on Media, Ola Awoniyi.
He revealed that the lawmakers met with and convinced the Chief Executives of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the DISCOs to postpone the planned increase of tariffs until the first quarter of 2021.
The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, as well as other principal officers and chairmen of the Committees on Power of the two chambers, attended the meeting.
Awoniyi said the National Assembly leaders were emphatic that the timing of the planned hike was wrong, although they do not have issues with the need to introduce cost-reflective tariffs for the power sector to attract the much-needed investment.
The meeting, according to the Senate Presidents aide, agreed to defer the planned hike until the first quarter of next year while the leadership of the National Assembly promised to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari on the issue.
The agreement here is that there is not going to be any increase in the tariffs on July 1st, Lawan was quoted as saying at the end of the meeting.
