Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said that revenues collected by electricity Distribution Companies (Discos) increased by 63 per cent because of reforms carried out in the power sector.
The reforms, he said, included the introduction of Service-Based Tariff (SBT).
Osinbajo make the remarks in a paper on “Strategic Responses of the Energy Sector to COVID-19 Impacts on African Economies,” at the 14th annual conference of the Nigerian Association of Energy Economics (NAEE).
The vice president said with increasing funding, the power sector would soon be fully financed by the market, rather than government subsidies.
Although, it remains debatable if the rising revenues accruing to the Discos have reflected in the supply of electricity to Nigerians.
Osinbajo did not mention the new monthly collection, but the Discos posted a record N44.5 billion revenue collection in September 2020, the highest ever recorded by the power distributors, a month after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directed banks to take over the collection of revenues from the Discos.
He said in collaboration with the private sector, efforts to invest $3 billion in revamping the distribution and transmission networks were on-going.
The vice president, who was represented by Special Adviser to the President on Infrastructure, Mr. Ahmad Zakari, stated, “Electricity tariff reforms with the service-based tariff have increased collections from the electricity sector by 63 per cent, increasing revenue assurance for gas producers and stabilising the value chain.
“It is anticipated that all electricity market revenues will be obtained from the market with limited subsidies as reforms in metering and efficiency with the Discos continue to improve.
“There is accelerated investment in transmission and distribution (over $3 billion) infrastructure that will put Nigeria on a path to 10GW+ and beyond through interventions with the CBN, the Siemens partnership, the World Bank, and African Development Bank and others.”
