Oyo Senator, Balogun breaks silence, kicks against electricity tariff hike

Senator Kola Balogun, representing Oyo South Senatorial District, last Thursday broke silence on the electricity tariff hike.

Balogun, who is also a member of the Senate Committee on Power kicked against the increase in electricity tariff implemented by power distribution companies across the country, just as he absolved the Senate of being part of the decision.

The lawmaker maintained that any policy that will further inflict more hardship on the masses will always be rejected.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had on August 27 informed that electricity tariff reviews, going forward will only follow service-based principles.

According to NERC, DiSCos will only be able to review tariff rates for customers when they consult with them and commit to increasing the number of hours of supply per day and quality of service.

Senator Balogun, during a media parley with the Southwest Group of Online Publishers (SWEGOP) in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital further disclosed how the Committee rejected the plan to increase electricity tarrif at a meeting organised by the National Electricity Regularly Commission (NERC), in Lagos.

“Sometimes last year,  NERC invited us to a meeting in Lagos where they came up with this proposal to increase electricity tariff and quite a number of us on that day rejected it out rightly, we said we will not support it.

“Because, how can you charge people for what they are not getting? That’s our position. Go and improve on your performances.

“Look at the telecoms. When NITEL was unbundled and we now have GSM, people are willing to pay, they are still paying because they are getting the services .

“So, how can I go back to my district and tell them that I agreed with the tariff to pay more for what they are not getting, it doesn’t make sense. I know we spoke against it and we left it at that. So we didn’t support it”, he explained.

Balogun, however continued, “But, it is safe for us to pass a law or amend an act to stop any situation, that is what is binding. As we speak I still don’t support it because timing is wrong, even if they have enough reasons to increase, how can you do that at this material time of COVID?”, he questioned.

The PDP chieftain noted that the problem in power sector started with the way and manner the system was unbundled. He alleged that the players lacked the wherewithal; both technical and financial muscle to perform optimally.

“Already we have 8,000MW, deliverable is still about 3,000-4,000MW; because they are not investing in transmission infrastructure.

“So, they don’t give them more than they can take, because if the load goes back, it will damage the system. And of course, distribution also has its own problem.

“If we have 5,000 MW deliverables, Nigerians will witness mass improvement in our electricity supply and then you can imagine if we have about 7, 000 MW deliverables.

“They said they don’t have the off takers which is not true. They also complained about inability to collect revenues from the general public and that the federal government is also owing them a lot of money. But, we say go and get prepaid meters. So what the federal government is trying to do now is likely to procure prepaid meters for them. If you have prepaid meters you make more money because nobody will take your electricity without paying”, he  submitted.

Balogun also commended the federal government for bringing Siemens to invest in transmission infrastructure.

According to him, “What the federal government is doing now, I am in support of it. The federal government is bringing Siemens to invest in transmission infrastructure. In fact it took a little argument before the owners of the transmission business allowed that to happen because there is always an agreement.

“In fact, we have to really be diplomatic, almost being persuasive for them to allow Siemens to come in and they have done a lot of feasibility study and they are bringing in almost everything that we would need to invest in transmission infrastructure; although with a loan from France”, he added.