The Federal Government has warned electricity distribution companies (DisCos) against selling meters to Nigerians. The government said any DisCo that asks Nigerians to pay for the item will be sanctioned.
The Special Adviser to the President on Infrastructure, Mr Ahmed Zakari, said this on Wednesday, December 2, 2020, at a stakeholders’ engagement on electricity tariff, organised by the FGN/NLC-TUC Ad-hoc Committee.
Zakari said, “We have made it clear through the regulator’s direct order as well as the intervention from the Ministry of Power that these meters are to be provided to Nigerians at no cost. “Even for meters that will be paid for through the MAP, there is a directive from the regulator to the discos that they need to find a way to reimburse citizens over time.
“If we find any disco or its representatives selling these meters or exploiting Nigerians to be able to get them, we will sanction such disco.” He said the presidency has directed that meters should be made available to Nigerians free of charge. “Though it is our belief that everyone will be obliged to do the right thing, we will still be vigilant and monitor developments,” he said.
Speaking at the event, the Minister of State for Power, Mr Festus Keyamo, said the committee had been working to achieve an equilibrium figure that would reflect the true price and value for the service of the electricity consumed. He said, “We are not working from answer to question but from question to answer.
“To ask if there will be an increase or a decrease is premature. What we are doing is a honest and open fact- finding. We want to question the rationale for the service reflective tariff.”
Keyamo said the aim is to ensure that consumers are not strangulated by unnecessary exploitative tendencies of the discos and that the discos too are kept afloat so that they can employ more workers and deliver quality service to Nigerians.
SOURCE: Pulse Nigeria.
