– The Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress, and civil society allies set for protests againts new electricity tariffs – The demonstration will be held on Monday, February 8, in Abuja and around the country – But experts disagree with Labour’s protest call over electricity traffic hike

Industry experts at the weekend expressed
concern that the call by organized labour to
shut down the Power Distribution and
Generation companies over the Multi Year
Tariff Order that came into effect in February
would impact negatively on the Power Sector
and the nation’s economy.
According to the experts , the planned
disruption of the operations may have more
severe consequences than the new Tariff
which is aimed at ensuring cost recovery in
the power sector value chain, removal of the
fixed charge , encouraging power
conservation by focusing on metering before
billing and insisting that consumers are
billed for only what they consumed.
Some of the experts argued that any
disruptions at this time would negatively
affect the steady progress being made in the
sector in spite of challenges posed by gas
pipeline vandalism and other acts of
sabotage recently being recorded in the
petroleum and power sector.
It would be recalled that on February 2, the
Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry sent out
a peak of 5,074MW at 2130hrs – a record
setting figure that displays significant
improvement in the capacity of the
transmission system. This is the highest
figure ever recorded by the industry in
recent times.
The total energy sent out on February 2,
2016 was also a record setting figure of
109,372.01MWH (an average of
4447.88MWh/h).
According to industry statistics, the past
three months has seen a series of record
setting figures and incremental growth in
spite of very challenging operational
environment, with the previous peak figure
achieved being 4,883MW on 21:15h on
November 24 2015, and the previous
maximum total energy sent out achieved on
January 27, 2016 being 107,142.32MWH.
The experts noted that though a lot of work
remains to be done, such record breaking
figures are only achievable due to the
coordinated efforts of all stakeholders in the
country, from gas suppliers, generating
plants, the Transmission Company of Nigeria,
distribution companies and all citizens who
have been patient with the industry as work
towards improving the sector has been
intensified under the leadership of the
Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr
Babatunde Fashola, SAN.
The progress and the fresh investment drive
into the sector being aimed at with the tariff
order may be jeopardized by any poorly
considered call for street protests or shut
down of operations rather than dialogue , an
energy expert noted.
Legal practitioners expressed the view that
the subject of change in tariff was not a
matter for labour agitation. According to
them, the statutory objective of a trade
union recognised under the Trade Unions Act
is to regulate the terms and conditions of
employment of workers. Price determination
is a product of market forces. Electricity is
like any other product and its price reflects
its cost of production.
Following the privatisation of the electricity
sector, the distribution and generation
aspects of the industry are now in the hands
of private investors. Consequently, price is
now determined by market forces in
accordance with the provisions of applicable
laws.
The law that regulates changes in tariff is the
Electric Power Sector Reforms Act and it
empowers the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory
Commission to allow a licencee to recover
the “costs of its business activities, including
a reasonable return on the capital invested
in the business” and “provide incentives for
the continued improvement of quality of
services” in the country.