Government Says No Plan to Increase Electricity Tariffs

The Nigerian Government has said that it has no plans to increase electricity tariffs, despite ongoing concerns about the financial sustainability of the power sector.

Minister of Power Joseph Tegbe made this known on Monday at a media parley in Abuja to mark his first 100 days in office, covering June 8 to September 16.

“Let me categorically state, and this is not a political statement, we have no plan to increase electricity tariffs,” he said.

Tegbe said the government was instead focused on improving electricity supply and strengthening the sector’s financial and physical foundations without imposing additional costs on consumers.

He said his assessment of the power sector after assuming office revealed interconnected challenges across the entire value chain that could not be resolved by simply adding new generation capacity.

According to him, limited gas supplies to power plants were linked to damaged pipelines and commercial terms that discouraged investment, while the generation fleet was weighed down by ageing equipment, deferred maintenance, stalled projects and a failure to deliver available capacity to consumers.

Tegbe said generation companies had received payment for only 27 per cent of their bills, limiting their ability to maintain plants and pay gas suppliers.

“When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu entrusted me with the responsibility of serving as Minister of Power, I made four promises to Nigerians. I promised a disciplined approach to solving the sector’s problems. I promised to pursue grid stability through structured, strategic reforms. I promised visible incremental improvements.

“Upon assuming office, the diagnosis we undertook at the onset revealed constraints at every segment of the electricity value chain. Gas supply to power stations was limited by damaged pipelines and commercial terms that discouraged investment. 

“Our generation fleet was heavily dependent on thermal plants, with ageing equipment, deferred maintenance, stalled projects and capacity unable to reach consumers. The sector diagnosis revealed payment of only 27 per cent of generation companies’ bills, undermining their ability to maintain plants and pay gas suppliers,” Tegbe stated.

He added that the transmission network was also under pressure from vandalised towers and lines, overstretched equipment and frequent system failures, while distribution companies were recording aggregate technical, commercial and collection losses of between 30 and 40 per cent.

The minister said inflation and foreign exchange pressures had further increased costs across the market, while arrears owed by ministries, departments and agencies had risen above N100 billion. He also cited mounting debts, regulatory uncertainty, inconsistent data and the need for better coordination of development-finance commitments.

Tegbe said the problems had created a cycle in which unpaid bills weakened gas supplies and maintenance, unreliable electricity reduced collections and poor collections added to sector debt.

“Across the market, inflation and foreign exchange pressures raised costs. Arrears owed by ministries, departments and agencies exceeded 100 billion naira. Debts continued to accumulate, regulatory uncertainty weakened confidence, and inconsistent data made it difficult to establish a common factual basis for decisions.

“Substantial development-finance commitments also required better coordination to translate funding opportunities into electricity delivered,” he said.

“These problems reinforce one another. Unpaid bills weaken gas supply and maintenance; unreliable supply depresses collections; poor collections deepen debt. A new power station cannot, by itself, resolve that cycle. 

“Sustainable improvement requires us to repair the physical system and the commercial relationships that keep it functioning,” Tegbe said.

He said the government therefore spent its first 100 days on diagnosis and stabilisation rather than focusing solely on new projects.

During the period, the 375MW Alaoji open-cycle power plant was restored to the national grid after three years offline. Transformers commissioned at Apapa, Ijora, Alausa and Lekki in Lagos also unlocked 672MW of transmission capacity, while a new 300MVA transformer at Katampe, Abuja, added another 240MW.

Tegbe said operational records showed electricity generation and transmission had risen above 5,000MW in the weeks before the media parley, compared with between 3,700MW and 4,700MW before June.

Generation peaked at 5,330MW in August and September, he said.

He, however, acknowledged that higher national generation figures did not necessarily translate into improved supply in every community.

“National progress can coexist with an unreliable feeder in a particular community. So, when we say that there are improvements in certain places, we do not categorically deny the experiences of those that are yet to benefit,” he said.

Tegbe said the government had also raised an estimated N1.23 trillion to address part of the N3.3 trillion power-sector debt backlog.

On metering, he said about 350,000 electricity meters had been installed during the first 100 days, bringing cumulative installations to 1,004,260 as of August 2026.

He added that the resolution of litigation involving the AMMON metering programme had cleared the way for the procurement of about 1.4 million smart meters.

Looking ahead, Tegbe said the government would prioritise the Lagos, Enugu-Port Harcourt and Abuja-Kaduna-Kano transmission corridors and begin work on a Transmission Super Grid.

He said technical audits had already started along the Lagos and Abuja corridors.

The minister said progress over the next six months would be measured by improvements in supply reliability, billing accuracy and the resolution of faults and complaints.

He reiterated that the government’s commitment to visible and incremental improvements would remain the benchmark for the sector’s reforms.