The Federal Government has said it has no plans to increase electricity tariffs, despite ongoing financial and operational challenges in the power sector.
The Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, disclosed this on Monday at a media parley in Abuja to mark his first 100 days in office, covering the period from June 8 to September 16.
“Let me categorically state, and this is not a political statement, we have no plan to increase electricity tariffs,” Tegbe said.
He said the government was focused on improving electricity supply and strengthening the financial and physical foundations of the sector rather than imposing additional costs on consumers.
According to the minister, an initial assessment of the sector revealed challenges across the entire electricity value chain, including inadequate gas supply, ageing generation equipment, transmission infrastructure constraints and high losses recorded by distribution companies.
He said generation companies were receiving only about 27 per cent of their bills, affecting their ability to maintain their plants and pay gas suppliers, while distribution companies recorded aggregate technical, commercial and collection losses of between 30 and 40 per cent.
Tegbe added that vandalism, overstretched transmission equipment, frequent system failures, inflation, foreign exchange pressures and accumulated debts had further weakened the sector.
He said the government therefore focused its first 100 days on diagnosis and stabilisation rather than solely pursuing new power projects.
The minister disclosed that the 375MW Alaoji open-cycle power plant had been restored to the national grid after being offline for three years.
He added that transformers commissioned at Apapa, Ijora, Alausa and Lekki in Lagos unlocked 672MW of transmission capacity, while a new 300MVA transformer at Katampe, Abuja, unlocked another 240MW.
Tegbe said generation and transmission had risen above 5,000MW in the weeks preceding the media parley, with generation peaking at 5,330MW in August and September, compared with between 3,700MW and 4,700MW before June.
He, however, acknowledged that an improvement in national generation might not immediately translate into reliable electricity for every community.
“National progress can coexist with an unreliable feeder in a particular community,” he said, acknowledging that some communities were yet to benefit from the improvements.
On the sector’s financial challenges, Tegbe said the government had raised an estimated N1.23tn to address part of the N3.3tn power-sector debt backlog.
He also disclosed that about 350,000 electricity meters were installed during his first 100 days in office, bringing cumulative installations to 1,004,260 as of August 2026.
According to him, the resolution of litigation involving the AMMON metering programme had also unlocked the procurement of about 1.4 million smart meters.
Looking ahead, Tegbe said the government would focus on stabilising the Lagos, Enugu-Port Harcourt and Abuja-Kaduna-Kano transmission corridors while commencing work on a Transmission Super Grid.
He said technical audits had already begun along the Lagos and Abuja corridors.
The minister added that the government would assess its progress over the next six months based on improvements in electricity supply reliability, billing accuracy, as well as the resolution of faults and consumer complaints.
