The Liberia Electricity Regulatory Commission (LERC) is to shortly embark on a tariff review for the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC), which will incorporate emerging economic parameters to determine new tariffs.
Addressing a press conference here Wednesday, June 19, 2024, at the LERC office in Congo Town, the Chairman of the LERC Board of Commissioners, Dr. Lawrence D. Sekajipo, said that, in keeping with the 2015 Electricity Law of Liberia, the Board of Commissioners in May 2021 approved the Electricity tariff regulations and the multiyear tariff methodology.
He explained that fixed charges collected thus far by LEC have been used by the Corporation to extend electricity to 13 gap communities in Monrovia and reinforce low- and medium-voltage networks, including the installation of transformers, poles, and streetlights.
Dr. Sekajipo indicates that this has significantly contributed to the provision of electricity to gap communities, which are usually outside of areas covered by donor-funded electrification projects.
According to him, the tariff regulation and multi-year tariff methodology require that tariffs approved by the Commission remain valid for three years.
With that, he explains that it means the approved tariff currently paid by customers will Expire on December 31, 2024. Therefore, in adherence to the regulation, the Commission will embark on a tariff review for LEC in the coming months to set up and approve a new price level for electricity for customers connected to the LEC grid.
"The exercise will review all the cost drivers, assess the efficiency of those costs, and incorporate emerging economic parameters in determining the tariff. Therefore, the goal of the pending review, which is the same as the earlier review, is to ensure that the price paid by various customer categories reflects the just and prudent costs incurred by the LEC in the provision of electricity to its customers", Dr. Sekajipo points out.
He continues that the electricity regulations and multi-year tariff methodology provide the framework for approving all tariffs through elaborate principles, methodology, processes, and other terms of supply within the electricity sector.
He adds that in December 2021, the Board of Commissioners approved new rates and charges for five categories of customers within the LEC network, which took effect on January 1, 2022.
He disclosed that this was the first time in the history of Liberia's electricity sector that the cost of electricity was decided through a process that considered all the parameters in generation, transmission, and distribution.
Dr. Sekajipo notes that the five categories of customers announced were social, prepaid residential, postpaid residential, prepaid non-residential, postpaid commercial, and medium voltage customers.
"These are the current tariffs. Social customer, US$0.15 per kilowatt-hour (no fixed charge) prepaid residential, US$0.24 per kilowatt-hour with a monthly fixed charge of US$2.48. Postpaid residential is US$0.24 per kilowatt-hour, and the monthly fixed charge is US$10.00. Prepaid non-residential US$0.22 per kilowatt-hour monthly fixed charge of US$ 10.00. Also, the postpaid commercial is at US$0.22 per kilowatt-hour and monthly fixed charge of US$12.00 and medium voltage customers tariffs are sent at US$ 0.19 per kilowatt-hour and monthly fixed charge of US$50.00", he details.
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He says these tariffs and charges, duly approved by the Commission, have been paid by customers in the various categories since January 1, 2022, adding that the fixed charges are intended to cover a portion of LEC's fixed cost of operation and facilitate the expansion of the network to unserved and underserved communities in LEC operational areas. Editing by Jonathan Browne
