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Tag: NERC

  • NERC warns DisCos against extortion

    NERC warns DisCos against extortion

    The National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has threatened to sanction Distribution Companies (DisCos) which extort consumers before supplying them transformers and other power distribution accessories.

    Its Acting Chairman, Dr Anthony Akah gave the warning yesterday, during the commissioning of the Ebonyi State Consumer Complaints Forum Office in Abakaliki.

    He said it was a criminal offence for DisCos to charge money to replace transformers and other power distribution accessories.

    “The Commission will punish DisCos caught in such act to the full weight of the law. This can include fines and even revocation of licenses depending on the magnitude of the offence,” he warned.

    He debunked the allegation that the commission is a toothless bulldog, adding that the sanction of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company and others has proved that the commission cannot only bark, but can also bite.

  • Reps probe NERC, Discos, Gencos over N309b govt’s secured bond

    Reps probe NERC, Discos, Gencos over N309b govt’s secured bond

    • House to remove ‘offensive’ estimates from budget

    The House of Representatives is to investigate the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission ( NERC ) over  the N213b  intervention fund provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria (ÇBN) last year through the Nigerian Electricity Sector Intervention facility.

    The investigation followed  the opposition of the lawmakers to a plan to borrow another N309b through a Federal Government secured bond.

    The bond, according to the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, was to cover the electricity market shortfall of N187b in 2015 and a projected shortfall of N122b for this year.

    The lawmakers were at a loss on the justification for the bond, which translates to  Nigerians bearing the operational loss of private electricity companies despite paying their electricity bill.

    Consequently, the utilisation  of the N213b  intervention fund has been commited to Committees on Power, Privatisation and Commercialisation, Aids, Loans and Debts Management.

    The House also directed NERC to devise a monitoring mechanism to measure and enforce full monthly remittances  by the DISCOS.

    The lawmakers also urged the regulatory body to recoup all mis-appropriated funds that resulted in the accumulated market shortfalls and apply sanctions for any default whatsoever, including the threat to withdraw the licenses of erring firms.

    The decision of the House followed the adoption of a motion by Edward Pwajok (PDP, Plateau ) who regretted that power sector operators have not lived to the expectations of Nigerian with their poor services in spite of increasing  tariffs twice since 2013.

    Saying that Distribution Companies (DISCOS) have severally failed to remit revenues collected to other market participants in full,  Pwajok added, “Tariff computation was a factor of capital investment that which was considered during the privatisation exercise, but regrettable there is no evidence that the DISCOS and GENCOS invested in acquiring any tangible assets.

    The House of Representatives yesterday went into a closed door session over the 2016 budget impasse.

    The session which lasted over two hours featured discussions on the  budget and how to address the “ grey areas “ as agreed with the President Muhammadu Buhari in an earlier meeting he had with the principal officers of the National Assembly.

    Though there was no briefing on what was discussed by members at the session as was the norm, The Nation learnt that the lawmakers moved to resolve aspects of the budget which the Presidency have designated as part of the “grey areas.”

    A source who pleaded anonymity said the Speaker briefed members on the meeting held with the president and pleaded with them to help ensure the issue of grey areas in the budget was resolved quickly.

    The Nation learnt that one of the things agreed in the closed door session was to scale down amounts added to the estimates brought by the MDAs under different subheads.

    Though the lawmakers had earlier insisted that the National Assembly has the power of appropriation and the prerogative to add or subtract from the Executive’s estimates, members were said to be in agreement  that in order for the budget to be assented to by the President, there might be a need to back down from their previous position.

    “Members agreed that the offensive additions on the part of the Representatives would be drastically reduced,” he said.

    The Speaker was said to have told members that three committees have been set up from the Senate, House and the Executive to work on the details to ensure a speedy transmission to the President to allow him assent to it with the next few days.

  • 2.9 million households not metered, says NERC

    2.9 million households not metered, says NERC

    The 11 Electricity Distribution Companies (AEDC) in Nigeria are yet to meter about 2.9 million households since they began operating the network on November 1, 2013.

    Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) made this disclosure in a statement yesterday in Abuja while meeting with the DisCos to evaluate their performance on the Credited Advance Payment for Metering Initiative (CAPMI).

    According to the Statistics, of the 403,255 meters procured since 2013, customers financed the installation of 251,531 meters which is about 100,000 higher than what the DisCos have procured as at March this year.

    Although the companies  signed a pact with the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and NERC to close the three million metering gap over two years ago, they have failed to reach even 200,000 .

    Data submitted by the 11 DisCos to NERC indicates that there are 6.159million customers’ accounts as at December last year with 3.206miilon metered. The other 2.953million customers have remained unmetered thereby raising the concerns on the estimated billing system.

    While Northern DisCos including Abuja, Jos, Kaduna, Kano and Yola claimed to have 1.973million customer base; Port Harcourt, Benin and Enugu Discos have 1,863,708 customers. In the west, Eko, Ikeja and Ibadan Discos have 2,322,376 customer accounts.

    The acting Chairman of NERC, Dr. Anthony Akah said there are plans to wind up the CAPMI and urged the DisCos key into it as it was neglected in the past.

    “It is criminal for DisCo who have not metered consumers under CAPMI since November 2013. Do it now before we conclude our investigations,” Akah warned the operators.

    Other concerns, the NERC boss raised include wrong migration of customers to higher classes of tariff, and complaints of over 200% rise in the estimated bills of some customers to the Commission.

    Responding, Jos Disco contested its metering status saying it has done more than the figure reported. Benin Disco said it uses cluster billing to charge people in a place for the energy delivered to the area whether household entities consume that or not.

    NERC also chided Ikeja and Kano Discos’s report indicating that none of its 1.057million customers was willing to pay for meters. However, Kano Disco said despite its awareness efforts, the customers are not willing to embrace CAPMI.

    Meanwhile,  Abuja and Jos Discos have assured of rolling out meters from May. As Jos Disco said it is doing 180,000 meters, Abuja is planning 100,000 meters.

     

  • Fashola charges NERC on fair electricity tariff

    Fashola charges NERC on fair electricity tariff

    Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola has charged the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to balance the concern of all stakeholders and consumers and come up with a tariff that is fair.

    Speaking at the fourth monthly meeting of the Minister with power sector participants at the Calabar Power Station in Odukpani local government area, he said the issue of tariff has become very contentious, but it is the purview of the regulator.

    Represented by the Permanent Secretary, Power, of the Ministry, Mr Louis Edozien, he said, “It is the statutory and legal responsibility of NERC to balance all the concerns and come up with a tariff that is balanced. They attempted to do that in December. They listened to power stations like this. You can see what is here. The owners of this station need to earn money to pay for all these. It is the tariff that pays for it.

    “NERC has to balance those requirements against the desire of all of us to pay as little as possible for electricity. The fact of the matter is that if we want electricity to improve, we have to habituate ourselves to pay what it cost. It is regrettable, but it is NERC’s job to listen to everybody and balance everyone’s concern and come up with a tariff that is fair. If anyone is not alright with this, there is a law that gives them the authority to petition NERC, that the tariff is not fair.

    “They are required by law to look at the complaint and balance it once more against the lines and power stations and explain how they arrived at what they arrived. If the complainant has a point they are authorized by the law that set them up to amend the tariff if it is believed they did not balance it properly.”

    A communiqué at the meeting acknowledged the need to improve on the responsiveness and awareness of the Distribution Companies’ (DisCos’) Customer Complaints Units (CCU), to ensure that all complaints from paying customers are acknowledged and resolved swiftly.

    Resolutions were made to publicize dedicated customer complaints lines in four national newspapers by each DisCo in order to support this objective in the next two weeks.

    The meeting reiterated the need for more aggressive rollout of metering for all customers. In this regard, Eko, Kano, Kaduna and Jos DisCos confirmed plans to aggressively deploy recently procured metering starting in May 2016. Abuja DisCo assured the meeting that it plans to meter 100,000 households by the end of the year, and Port Harcourt DisCo intends to install 110,000 by the end of the year.

    It read in part, “The meeting resolved that Port Harcourt DisCo and Calabar and Ibom Power Plants can proceed with their bilaterally negotiated agreement to supply currently stranded power, starting with 150MW to 250 MW. Port Harcourt DisCo will invest in infrastructure in Akwa Ibom and Cross River to receive the power and deliver it to customers at the approved tariff.

    “The meeting acknowledged the shortage of gas, limiting power output from power stations connected to the ELPS pipeline, and supported ongoing discussions between the Minister of Power Works and Housing, and Ministry of Petroleum Resources to facilitate additions in gas supply and the repair of the Forcados Oil Export Line to ameliorate the gas shortage.”

     

  • TUC to NERC: Ensure stable power before tariff hike

    The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has reiterated its position against moves by the Nigeria Electricity Commission (NERC), electricity distribution and generation companies (DISCOs and GENCOs) to increase electricity tariff. The TUC said the move was anti-people and lacked every sense of logicality.

    In a communiqué by the TUC President, Comrade Bobboi Kaigama, after a meeting with NERC officials, on Tuesday, Kaigama described as lame the argument in some quarters that an act of the National Assembly actually empowers the Commission to unilaterally increase tariff and that the act cannot be tampered with even by the federal parliament.

    “For us, any act, policy or idea that does not consider the poor masses is undemocratic and evil. It is evil because it further impoverishes the masses. Naturally, our thinking is that business is all about investment and profit and not the other way round. Every business has its gestation period before it starts generating profit. Unfortunately, NERC and the investors do not want to go through the pains,” Kaigama said.

    The TUC president argued that if the investors need contributions from people to invest, it automatically makes the people shareholders to the company. “For NERC, DISCOs and GENCO to give the consumers crazy bills in order to rake in enough money without making them partners is unacceptable and fraudulent,” he said.

    Kaigama said it is imperative that investors realise that government privatised the sector because it could no longer fund it, adding that the investors are expected to fund the sector without inflicting pains on the masses.

    “The Congress told the NERC officials that truly the challenges in the sector are enormous, which remains the reason why it was privatised. However, the officials were advised to re-strategise. Nigerians are good followers and shall be willing to pay their bills if the product is made available.

    We are not ready to pay for the electricity we do not consume,” he said.

  • NERC to query TCN over report

    NERC to query TCN over report

    • Scores DisCos, GenCos low

    The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission  (NERC), is set to query the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), for its falure to submit the mandatory operational report between January and June 2015.

    NERC’s Head of Engineering Standards and Safety Department, Mr. Abdullahi Mohammed said during a meeting in Abuja to review agreed key performance indicators in the industry with operators that the commission was uncomfortable with TCN’s attitude to its reporting responsibility.

    He said: “I am disturbed about TCN because it is the hub. If it does not behave well, other parts suffer. They refused to submit the six months report against the provision of the Act.

    “We will write them query on that lack of compliance. They submitted two days ago but we are not accepting that.”

    Industry experts had overtime queried the capacity of the TCN to comfortably operate within laid down rules in the country’s privatised electricity market. Their stated discomfort with the TCN stems from its reported years of operating with disregards to rules.

    Similarly, NERC expressed its displeasure with the 11 electricity distribution companies (DisCos) for mostly performing poorly in 2015.

    NERC explained that in addition to the DisCos’ poor operational performance, they equally did poorly with their data submission to it for relevant documentation.

    Mohammed in this regard said there were suspected cases of incredibility of data submitted by the operators.

    He reminded them that the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA) 2005 abhors the submission of such false information to the Commission, adding that such attracts various sanctions including imprisonment.

    According to him: “By the next performance review, we will get the actual culprits that are not performing accordingly.”

    Accordingly, data presented by the Commission indicates that the TCN, which transmits generated electricity across the country and which is also under a contract management of Canadian firm, Manitoba Hydro International did not submit its six monthly report.

    Although the the report said that the TCN reduced its transmission losses to 6 per cent in the second half of 2015, there was however a surge in the losses to about 9 per cent between August and September the same year.

    The year end figure was also higher than the 8.05 per cent that the Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO) assumed would be the case. This also shows  that there is a high level of constraint in power delivery and subsequently revenue generation.

    The generation companies (Gencos) on the other hand, had their electricity output go down from 70 per cent earlier in 2015 to less than 65 per cent with more stranded (unused) power in the system.

    According to NERC, the Discos’ performance showed that on the average they had their Aggregate Technical Commercial & Collection Losses (ATC&C) figures at 55 per cent. It however noted that it was unacceptable because only 17 per cent was projected as the acceptable level in the MYTO.

  • NERC to query TCN over non submission of report

    NERC to query TCN over non submission of report

    The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on Wednesday vowed to query the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) for not submitting six months report of its performance in Nigeria’s electricity industry in 2015.

    NERC said that TCN failed to submit to it the mandatory operational report between January and June of 2015. It noted that such reporting failure was unacceptable to it.

    The Head, Engineering Standards and Safety Department of NERC, Mr. Abdullahi Mohammed said during a meeting in Abuja to review agreed key performance indicators in the industry with operators that the commission was uncomfortable with TCN’s attitude to its reporting responsibility.

    He said; “I am disturbed about TCN because it is the hub. If it does not behave well, other parts suffer. They refused to submit the six months report against the provision of the Act.

    “We will write them query on that lack of compliance. They submitted two days ago but we are not accepting that. ”

    Industry experts had overtime queried the capacity of the TCN to comfortably operate within laid down rules in the country’s privatised electricity market. Their stated discomfort with the TCN stems from its reported years of operating with disregards to rules.

    Similarly, NERC stated its displeasure with the 11 electricity distribution companies (Discos) for mostly performing poorly in 2015.

    NERC explained that in addition to the Discos’ poor operational performance, they equally did poorly with their data submission to it for relevant documentation.

    Mohammed in this regard said there were suspected cases of incredibility of data submitted by the operators.

    He reminded them that the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA) 2005 abhors the submission of such false information to the Commission, adding that such attracts various sanctions including imprisonment.

    According to him: “By the next performance review, we will get the actual culprits that are not performing accordingly.”

    Accordingly, data presented by the Commission indicates that the TCN, which transmits generated electricity across the country and which is also under a contract management of Canadian firm, Manitoba Hydro International did not submit its six monthly report.

    Although the report said that the TCN reduced its transmission losses to 6 per cent in the second half of 2015, there was however a surge in the losses to about 9 per cent between August and September the same year.

    The year-end figure was also higher than the 8.05 per cent that the Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO) assumed would be the case. This also shows that there is a high level of constraint in power delivery and subsequently revenue generation.

    The generation companies (Gencos) on the other hand, had their electricity output go down from 70 per cent earlier in 2015 to less than 65 per cent with more stranded (unused) power in the system.

    According to NERC, the Discos’ performance showed that on the average they had their Aggregate Technical Commercial & Collection Losses (ATC&C) figures at 55 per cent. It however noted that it was unacceptable because only 17 per cent was projected as the acceptable level in the MYTO.

    Also, the Discos’ customers’ metering level fluctuated from 46 per cent to about 44 per cent in the year, NERC said on this that it suspected wrong data submission from them.

    More so, it frowned at the high electrocution rate of 120 deaths and 117 critical injuries, saying there were up to 13 deaths in just a single community and that such development cannot attract further investment in the sector.

    Other faults identified in the Discos include low compliance on report submission, poor data credibility, variations in the number of customers and the meter installation statistics.
    Mohammed said:  “The performance in the sector needs to be improved. It is really not impressing and we are making sure that our licenses live up to their responsibilities.”

    He noted that the Commission will urge the operators to validate their data before submitting it to it, as well as timely submission.

     

  • Electricity customers besiege NERC with 47,127 complaints

    Electricity customers besiege NERC with 47,127 complaints

    Electricity consumers in the country lodged 47,127 complaints against the 11 electricity distribution companies with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in the last quarter of last year alone, the commission announced yesterday.

    The high number of the complaints, NERC said,was a  clear indication of customers’ increasing  dissatisfaction with the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).

    Declaring open a training session on customer complaints handling organised for staff of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), at Keffi, Nassarawa State, the acting Chief Executive Officer, NERC, Dr. Anthony Akah, said that electricity distribution companies should find ways of minimizing complaints from consumers.

    The Head, Public Affairs Department, Dr. Usman Abba Arabi, who disclosed this in a statement quoted the acting chairman as saying : “It is critical that electricity distribution companies should be alive to their duties of prompt resolution of complaints to ensure improved customer service satisfaction.

    “This will not only win the confidence of the customers for their service provider but also allow customers to benefit from gain of the privatisation of the power sector”

    Akah, who was represented by his Technical Assistant, Jonathan Okoronkwo, said that the Commission, in line with its enabling act, had put in place necessary guidelines and regulations to assist the service providers in rendering efficient and effective service to their customers.

    He lauded the management of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company for organising the training for its staff even as he encouraged participants to see the training as opportunity to be better equipped in the discharge of their responsibilities.

    The Assistant General Manager, Customer Complaints, NERC, Mr. Shittu Shaibu took participants through relevant regulations of the Commission that pertain to customer complaints handling.

     

  • NERC warns DISCOs against over-charging customers

    The National Electricity Distribution Commission (NERC), Friday, warned the eleven power distribution companies (DisCOs) against exploiting customers, who do not have meters, just as electricity supply to the grid ramps up at 4, 387 megawatts (Mw).

    The agency said it would be wrong for DisCOs to capitalise on the low electricity supply in the country to over -charge customers, who on account of their inability to get meters are put on estimated billing.

    In a statement signed by NERC’s Head Public Affairs Department, Dr Usman Abba Arabi, said billings for unmetered customers should be based on their consumption level.

    He said: “The reduction in power supply when it lasted affects both metered and unmetered customers. For metered customers the drop in their consumption will be captured by their meter.

    For unmetered customers it is imperative that estimated bills during this period are reflective of their actual consumption. At this juncture, it is imperative that bills for unmetered customers are accurate as much as possible. It should under no circumstance be arbitrarily inflated.’’

    Arabi said unmetered and estimated customers have the right and option to pay current estimated electricity billing, in the event no concern was raised   in their estimated electricity bills.

    He urged electricity distribution companies to charge customers in line with the provisions of the Billing Estimation Methodology Regulations, 2012, provided by the government.

    It would be recalled that the peak generation level that notched epoch 5,070 megawatts few weeks ago suddenly nosedived due to inadequate gas supply on the main gas pipeline supplying many of the power stations.

    This was on account of gas supply shortage due to inability to evacuate condensates and oil produced with the gas because the main oil export pipeline out of Forcados was vandalized two weeks ago.

    However, with the successful repair work on the damaged facility, the system is now ramping up as it attains 4, 387 megawatts peak generation as at Friday.

  • NERC, CPC sign MoU on metering

    The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) yesterday sealed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to ensure that consumers get meters as prescribed in the service agreement electricity distribution companies (DisCos) had with the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE).

    Acting Chairman, NERC,   Dr. Anthony Akah, regretted that gas pipeline vandalism was on the increase and called for stiffer measures to check the menace.

    The two organisations  are also to work closely with consumers to ensure that those who volunteered to pay for meters under the Credit Advance Payment Metering Implementation (CAPMI) scheme get their meters within 60 days or not to be billed until meters were provided.

    Akah said: “It is our believe that with this collaboration with the CPC, complaints that may arise in the course of the implementation of the good tariff and other electricity consumers related ones would be effectively managed and addressed in line with the Commission’s redress mechanism.

    He said: “The CPC has a member in each of NERC’s consumer forums located nationwide; we intend to intensify enforcement of consumer protection regulations on metering, billing and the perennial complaints of estimated customers. There shall also be concerted efforts aimed at  reducing the incidence of estimated billing and eventually eliminating them completely.

    “The increasing incidents of vandalism of electricity infrastructure, energy theft, hostility to operators are also issues we hope to jointly address.”