Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has charged the Federal Government to go for a holistic reform of the nation’s power sector instead of embarking on tariff increase as being proposed.
The Chamber’s Director-General, Dr Muda Yusuf, in a statement made available to Tribune Online, on Monday, argued that there are myriad of factors plaguing the industry that should be attended to by the government before thinking of a price review.
He added that if those factors are left unattended to before the government embarked on tariff review, consumers and the nation’s investors would suffer.
“The power sector problem is a multifaceted problem. It is not only about tariff. The approach should be holistic, otherwise, the consumers would be vulnerable.
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“Only recently there was an increase. Now another is being proposed. The tariff question is no doubt one of the problems.
“But what is NERC doing about the issue of the capacity of the Discos, estimated billing, the technical and commercial loses, the metering problem, the quality and adequacy of investment by the discos the transmission issues, the proposal on the decentralization of the sector, the promotion of off-grid solutions, incentives for renewable energy solutions?” he asked.
According to the LCCI boss, all the industry challenges are needed to be addressed in order to inspire the confidence of consumers.
While stressing the need for NERC to protect the interests of consumers, as well as that of the investors, Yusuf also stated that the social dimension of electricity provision to those at the bottom of the pyramid should also be considered.
“It is also critical to disaggregate and interrogate the components of cost being claimed by the discos. Already many small businesses have complained about prohibitive tariffs by discos following the last review.
“What is needed is a holistic reform rather than the simplistic solution of tariff review,” Yusuf submitted.
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