The National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has The NERC the withdrawal of subsidy to low income consumers of electricity.

The National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC)  has The NERC the withdrawal of subsidy to low income consumers of electricity.

The commission gave the indication at Amawbia, Nnewi and Onitsha, Anambra State at its ongoing Power Consumers Assembly (PCA).

According to a statement by the commission on Sunday,  the commission the Federal Government will in line with the rural electrification programme channel such subsidy funds into other priority areas such as the provision of electricity to rural communities.

NERC General Manager, Government and Consumer Affairs, Dr. Tony Akah, who coordinated the proceedings at the PCA, said the government is expected to run out of its outlay for subsidising consumers by next year and as such, it may not provide more funds if there was no need to continue with it.

Akah said: 'In the new tariff that we have, the MYTO-2, there is a component of subsidy because what Nigerians are paying now is not the full cost and because we don't want the consumers to have a big shock, the regulator made recommendations to the government and they accepted and provided some funding.

'That funding should be exhausted by next year and unless the government decides to extend or raise funding because the overriding idea is that as more energy is ramped up, Nigerians will spend less on alternative power. Then there will no longer be the need for Nigerians to be subsidised with regards to electricity usage and then that scarce financial resources can be redeployed by the government to other critical areas of needs; there was subsidy provided for certain amount and for certain period and after that it will go.'

Akah, however, noted that the possibility of the government making provision for electricity subsidy was dependent on the commission's thoughts and recommendations.

He said: 'But the regulator right now is studying everything and if there is a need for us to make recommendations to the government for more subsidy and in view of the fact that we may have to review the tariff, then that will be presented on its merits to the government.'

The government, in 2012, planned to spend about N110 billion in subsiding electricity consumption especially the rural population in the next two years, starting from 2012. A breaking down of the expected subsidy distribution as was then shown by former Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji indicated that the government had provided to spend N60 billion for electricity subsidy in the 2012 budget and another N50 billion in the 2013 budget.