Members of Aba Industrialists Association (AIA) on Thursday called for a
reversal of the hike in tariff by Enugu Electricity Distribution
Company on industries.
The call is contained in a communiqué issued at the end of AIA meeting. It was signed by Chief Emma Obi and Mr Ehisianya Christin, Chairman and Secretary respectively.
They said the new tariff was capable of throwing them out of business, saying it was therefore unacceptable to them.
The industrialists said that under the new electricity tariff, a company which paid N900,000 in Dec. 2014 would pay N2.4m in February.
They said it was unfortunate that the new tariff had not been matched with improved power supply.
They said they had continued to rely on generators to power their firms in spite of the high tariff.
``This new tariff is outside the N104,000 EEDC referred to as fixed charge which we are to pay every month whether there is power supply or not. We are still contesting that with them", they said.
AIA said that if this new tariff was made to stand, the cost of finished products would not only be very high but all the industries would be forced to close down.
``In a situation where a small or medium scale industry like ours are made to pay N16million as electric bill in one month, there is no way that company will remain afloat", they said.
They, therefore, urged EEDC to disconnect their members without further delay as they would no longer need their services should the new energy tariff remain.
``We have written a letter to Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) about this exploitative billing.
``We have told them that we will be unable to cope with it and have therefore urged EEDC to disconnect our members without further delay should the new energy tariff remain", the industrialists said.
They, however, said that over 6,000 people working in their industries would be forced out of jobs if they shut down.
NAN
The call is contained in a communiqué issued at the end of AIA meeting. It was signed by Chief Emma Obi and Mr Ehisianya Christin, Chairman and Secretary respectively.
They said the new tariff was capable of throwing them out of business, saying it was therefore unacceptable to them.
The industrialists said that under the new electricity tariff, a company which paid N900,000 in Dec. 2014 would pay N2.4m in February.
They said it was unfortunate that the new tariff had not been matched with improved power supply.
They said they had continued to rely on generators to power their firms in spite of the high tariff.
``This new tariff is outside the N104,000 EEDC referred to as fixed charge which we are to pay every month whether there is power supply or not. We are still contesting that with them", they said.
AIA said that if this new tariff was made to stand, the cost of finished products would not only be very high but all the industries would be forced to close down.
``In a situation where a small or medium scale industry like ours are made to pay N16million as electric bill in one month, there is no way that company will remain afloat", they said.
They, therefore, urged EEDC to disconnect their members without further delay as they would no longer need their services should the new energy tariff remain.
``We have written a letter to Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) about this exploitative billing.
``We have told them that we will be unable to cope with it and have therefore urged EEDC to disconnect our members without further delay should the new energy tariff remain", the industrialists said.
They, however, said that over 6,000 people working in their industries would be forced out of jobs if they shut down.
NAN
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