The Federal Government has said it has no plans to increase electricity tariffs.
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 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 power sector rather than imposing additional costs on consumers.
The minister’s statement comes amid concerns over the financial sustainability of the electricity market and the future of government support for the sector.
Tegbe said the sector remained constrained across the entire value chain, with interconnected challenges that could not be resolved simply by adding new generation capacity.
“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,” he said.
According to the minister, an assessment conducted after he assumed office revealed challenges across every segment of the electricity value chain.
He said gas supply to power stations was constrained by damaged pipelines and commercial terms that discouraged investment, while the generation fleet was heavily dependent on ageing thermal plants affected by deferred maintenance, stalled projects and inadequate capacity to deliver power to consumers.
Tegbe said the sector’s financial challenges were also affecting generation companies, which, according to him, were receiving payment for only 27 per cent of their bills, undermining their ability to maintain plants and pay gas suppliers.
He said the transmission network was similarly under pressure from vandalised towers and lines, overstretched equipment and frequent system failures.
At the distribution end, he said electricity distribution companies were recording aggregate technical, commercial and collection losses of between 30 and 40 per cent.
“Across the market, inflation and foreign exchange pressures raised costs. Arrears owed by ministries, departments and agencies exceeded ₦100bn. Debts continued to accumulate, regulatory uncertainty weakened confidence, and inconsistent data made it difficult to establish a common factual basis for decisions,” he said.
Tegbe added that substantial development-finance commitments required better coordination to translate funding opportunities into actual electricity delivery.
“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,” he said.
“Sustainable improvement requires us to repair the physical system and the commercial relationships that keep it functioning.”
The minister said the government therefore spent its first 100 days on diagnosis and stabilisation rather than focusing solely on new projects.
According to him, the 375MW Alaoji open-cycle power plant was restored to the national grid after three years offline, while transformers commissioned at Apapa, Ijora, Alausa and Lekki in Lagos unlocked 672MW of transmission capacity.
He added that a new 300MVA transformer at Katampe, Abuja, unlocked another 240MW of transmission capacity.
Tegbe said operational records showed electricity generation and transmission rising above 5,000MW in the weeks preceding the media parley, compared with between 3,700MW and 4,700MW before June.
He said generation peaked at 5,330MW in August and September.
The minister, however, acknowledged that national generation figures did not necessarily reflect the experience of individual communities.
“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.
Power-sector debt, metering
On the financial side, Tegbe said the government had raised an estimated ₦1.23tn to address part of the ₦3.3tn power-sector debt backlog.
He also disclosed that about 350,000 electricity meters were installed during the first 100 days of his tenure, 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.
Transmission reforms
On the next phase of the reforms, Tegbe said the government would focus on stabilising the Lagos, Enugu-Port Harcourt and Abuja-Kaduna-Kano transmission corridors while beginning work on a Transmission Super Grid.
He said technical audits had commenced along the Lagos and Abuja corridors.
Tegbe said the government would measure progress over the next six months based on improvements in supply reliability, billing accuracy and the resolution of faults and complaints.
“Our original commitment to visible, incremental improvements remains the benchmark. We will report progress against that benchmark, including changes in supply reliability, billing accuracy and the resolution of faults and complaints,” he said.
