‘We increased electricity tariff because Nigerians lack culture of power consumption management’ – Adelabu

The minister of power, Adebayo Adelabu, has explained why the Federal Government recently announced the electricity tariff increment. 

Adelabu, while addressing journalists in Abuja on recently said Nigerians lack the culture of power consumption management due to its affordability.

“The bitter truth we all need to tell ourselves as Nigerians. A few people are just privileged to sit on the high table. We’re on the same level, we must be able to tell the truth to ourselves,” he said.

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“We don’t have the culture of consumption management in this country in terms of power, just of the cheapness of the tariff we pay for power.

“A lot of people will come back from work, they want to have dinner, or they want to see their colleagues down the road, they switch on the AC for the room to be cooling before they come back.

“Some people will be going to work in the morning, a freezer that you left on for days, they will still leave it on when all the items in the freezer are frozen and 5, 6, 8 hours of their absence will not make it to defreeze, they will still leave it to be consuming power just because we are not paying enough.

“We have all been overseas before; we know how conscious the power consumers are about electricity consumption.”

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On Wednesday, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) approved an increase in electricity tariff for customers under the Band A classifications.

The regulator said customers who receive 20 hours of electricity supply daily will pay N225 per kilowatt (kW) from April 3. The new rate is about triple the previous rate of N66 per kilowatt (kW).