State governments have been identified as major debtors to DisCos according to the Senate Committee on Power. Educational institutions and military formations are also included on the list of those owing electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) huge debts for power consumed.
Chairman of the Committee, Senator Gabriel Suswam stated this during an interactive session with the Minister of State for Power, Abubakar Aliyu, an engineer, and heads of power agencies in Abuja.
The Federal Government claimed that electricity tariffs are the cheapest compared to other countries in the West African sub-region. It also claimed that Nigeria has the highest rate of defaulting electricity consumers in terms of paying for power consumed.
The Minister of State for Power, Engineer Aliyu, made these assertions in his submission during the session. He further added that electricity is highly subsidized in Nigeria by the Federal Government which made its cost, to be cheapest across the globe.
He backed up his claim by making a comparative analysis of the cost of electricity in Nigeria with those of neighboring countries. The cost of electricity in Nigeria is the cheapest across the globe, particularly gas to power, which is highly subsidized.