A survey conducted by professional services firm, PwC Nigeria last week has found that 80% of Nigerians are willing to pay a higher tariff for electricity if it will guarantee more stable power.
Ian Arufor, partner at PwC commenting on the results at the 8th edition of the corporation’s annual power and utilities roundtable in Lagos yesterday, said that 40% of respondents get less than 5 hours of electricity daily and 80% said they are willing to pay more for power is they are guaranteed uninterrupted power.
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“At this time, the blame game should be over, it is time to take ownership and refocus on the path to recovery. If you keep talking about challenges, you won’t move on,” said Arufor. The round table discussion featured representatives from across the value chain from the electricity distribution companies (DisCos), Transmission Company of Nigeria, electricity generation companies (GenCos) and investors.
The need for a cost-reflective tariff for the sector was the key issue that emerged from the dialogue. Operators urged the Federal Government to take another look at its opposition to tariff review. Olawale Oluwo, Lagos state commissioner for energy resources while delivering the keynote address said a more pragmatic approach is to allow cost reflective tariff in states that can afford it like Lagos while it subsidizes other states without capacity.
Panellists at the roundtable include Funke Osibodu, managing director of Benin DisCo, Amaechi Aloka, a deputy director at BPE, Femi Akinrebiyo, a principal investment office at International Finance Corporation, Mohammed Gur, managing director of Transmission Company of Nigeria, Dafe Akpeneye, commissioner, legal and compliance at the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission and George Oluwande, CEO of Sahara Power Group. PwC’s Omontuemhen moderated the session.
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Speaking in favour of Oluwo’s position, Akinrebiyo said the history of electricity has always favoured rendering the service to those with the capacity to pay first afterwards the services can be extended to others without limited capacity.
“So when we are trying to create a market, you must think of who can pay. That is the first solution. For rural electrification to work, there has to be a party-ready to pay in this case, the government” said Akinrebiyo. Akpeneye, who spoke on behalf of regulators, differed with this position. He said electricity which has become a necessity for modern life cannot be denied large swaths of the population.
He also faulted PwC’s survey saying that a community who was provided 24-hour power, with prepaid meters to capture usage begged to revert to the irregular method when it could not afford to pay.
ISAAC ANYAOGU
