The ad hoc committee had met with the association of Electricity Distribution Companies, DISCOs, Nigeria NERC and NECAN, during which all the stakeholders, particularly NECAN, kicked against it. The committee had warned NERC three weeks ago not to increase tariff until it concluded the ongoing investigative hearings on the issue. However, in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja, on Wednesday by the chairman of the ad hoc committee, Honourable Babajimi Benson, the committee stated that each group expressed its respective positions on issues of billings and infrastructure. According to the statement, “NERC, as the regulator, made a case for tariff increase, DISCOs made a case for a cost reflective to sustain and enable them expand and improve on service delivery. “But the consumer group, NECAN, made a case against tariff hike on the premise that such increase will further reduce the purchasing power of individual consumer and affect profitability of businesses.” Further findings revealed that the proposed increase is about 17 per cent for Residential Consumers (RC 2) which consists of 86 per cent of the entire residents in the Federal Capital Territory. Heavy consumers of electricity, such as manufacturing companies, are expected to pay almost 50 per cent of what they presently pay and the percentage of those in this category is 0 .6 per cent in the FCT.]]>