The federal government Wednesday increased the rate paid per kilowatt hour (kwh) of electricity from about N68 to N225 for most Band ‘A’ Nigerian customers who consistently have 20 hours of supply daily.

Announcing the development in Abuja, the power sector regulator, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), noted that only about 15 per cent of the over 12 million registered power customers will be affected by the new decision.

Vice Chairman of NERC, Musiliu Oseni, who stood in for the Chairman, Sanusi Garba, during the press briefing, stated that only a fraction of the over 3,000 Distribution Companies (Discos) feeders, that is less than 500 feeders, will be impacted.

He revealed that that NERC had also ordered that majority of the feeders which did not meet the 20 hours supply threshold before will be downgraded to lower bands.

Oseni explained that for now, tariffs for every other bands remain unaffected.

A THISDAY calculation of the new rate further showed that it was hiked by as much as 230 per cent per kwh.

Details later…