• Monday, December 30, 2024
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Nigeria pays nearly N200 billion in electricity subsidies

Aba Power plans tariff increase amid high operating cost

The Nigerian government is now paying more in electricity subsidies for December – N199.64 billion, which is 2.76% higher than November’s N194.26 billion.

The Electricity Commission announced this in their December 2024 price report posted on their website Tuesday.

Electric rates stayed the same for all customer groups. Band-A customers still pay N209/kWh, while customers in Bands B to E continue paying the same rates they’ve paid since December 2022.

Under this system, the government will pay N29.10bn (up from N27.86bn in November) in subsidies for Abuja electricity customers. Customers under Ikeja Electric will receive N26.68bn in government subsidies.

Read Also: FG to spend N2.4trn on electricity subsidy by 2024

NERC said the small increase happened because of changes in the exchange rate (now N1,687.45 to the dollar), higher inflation at 33.9%, and changes in how much power they could generate.

Regarding gas prices, NERC stated, “The review maintains the benchmark gas-to-power price of $2.42/MMBTU based on the established benchmark price of gas-to-power by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority.”

The commission added that “approved tariffs shall remain in force subject to monthly adjustment of pass-through indices including inflation rate, NGN/dollar exchange rate and gas-to-power prices.”

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