Nigeria’s electricity bill is the cheapest in the world, the Minister of State for Power who appeared before the Senate Committee on Power on Thursday said.
While addressing a Senator Gabriel Suswam-led Committee, Engineer Abubakar Aliyu added that electricity consumers are the highest defaulters in the world.
He appeared before the Senate panel with heads of agencies under his ministry.
He insisted that the Federal Government’s highly subsidised electricity made the bill cheap, yet it’s being defaulted with impunity.
The Minister said while comparing the cost of electricity with Nigeria’s neighbouring countries, it’s the cheapest, particularly the gas to power.
He said: “While cost of electricity in Nigeria is 15 cent per kilowatt, it is 42 cent in Niger Republic, 23 cent in Republic of Benin, 25 cent in Mali, 28 cent in Senegal, 27 cent in Burkina Faso etc”.
He lamented that sabotage being experienced in power by consumers and government agencies, despite the Federal Government’s effort to stabilise power supply.
Similarly, the Managing Director of Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, Engineer Sulyman Abdulaziz, said there is a high rate of defaults on electricity bills by critical government agencies which led to disconnection of Electricity Distribution Companies, DISCOs, in Kaduna and Kano from the national grid recently.
He added that though they have been temporarily reconnected, they must make payment through the affected DISCOs to TCN within the 60 days grace given.
Reacting to the issues, Suswam and other members like Senators Adamu Aliero and Yusuf Abubakar Yusuf, suggested a deduction of electricity bills of such agencies by the Ministry of Finance.
