Govt can’t fund power tariff shortfalls – Minister

The Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, has announced that the Federal Government can no longer cover electricity tariff shortfalls and maintain power supply nationwide. Speaking at an energy conference in Lagos, Tegbe highlighted structural problems in the electricity market, including poor revenue collection, inadequate metering, accumulated debts, and weaknesses in the existing market structure.

He emphasized that the government is reviewing the electricity market structure and tariff assumptions with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission to address these issues. Tegbe also mentioned that the government plans to move towards bilateral electricity agreements, where power producers will supply customers or distribution companies based on agreed commercial terms, and urged urgent attention to the distribution end of the electricity value chain, where Nigeria has a 40 per cent metering gap.

Brief written by urgent.news from Punch Nigeria's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.