The Federal Government has appealed to electricity consumers in the country to cooperate with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission NERC, in the price review of electricity scheduled for July this year, as contained in the Act that established the commission.

The review is in compliance with the Electric Power Sector Reforms Act EPSRA, which empowers it to establish one or more price review methodology for regulating electricity, against the back drop of section 32(d) of EPSRA by which the NERC must ensure that the prices charged by licensees and operators are fair to consumers and are sufficient to allow the licensees to finance their activities and to allow for reasonable earnings for efficient operation.

In a statement from the Ministry of Power made available to newsmen, government has urged electricity consumers not to panic at the price review in July, saying it is a minor review that is aimed at bridging the gap in the cost of electricity purchased by the distribution companies from the Generation companies.

At various levels of policy discuss in the power sector reforms, the ministers of power Engr. Maman Saleh and Goddy Jeddy Agba have always urged electricity consumers to be calm, given the fact that no responsible government will deliberately be exploitive to citizens, especially in the provision of social amenities like electrify and other relevant infrastructure.

Recall that, President Muhammdu Buhari had in September last year approved minor review in the price of electricity, while the National Assembly in its resolution posited that the price review be deferred to first quarter of 2021.

Only a few days back, the parliament invited the chairman of Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission NERC Sanusi Garba to appear before it, where members urged the Federal government not to go ahead with the planned price review in electricity scheduled to be effective in July 2021.

The Chairman of the commission in attempt to extrapolate on salient issues of the power sector that concerns price regime, he said the generation companies sells electricity to the distribution companies at a price, and the DISCOS will certainly not sell to consumers at the same price.

He however, noted that it is the responsibility of NERC to regulate the prices between GENCOS and DISCOS to ensure that the burden of price is not transferred to consumers in a manner that will be exploitative.

The relevant sections which empowers NERC to carry out periodic price reviews provides for a 15-year tariff plan for the electricity industry with minor and major reviews twice a year and every five years respectively.