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Tag: NERC

  • NERC wants order on new electricity tariff vacated

    NERC wants order on new electricity tariff vacated

    The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on Thursday filed an application to discharge the exparte order restraining it from implementing the new electricity tariff scheduled to take effect from June 1.

    Mr Tonbofa Ashimi, the counsel to the commission, informed the court that he had filed the application to discharge the exparte order, including a preliminary objection challenging the substantive suit.

    Justice Mohammed Idris of a Federal High Court, Lagos had given the order in a ruling on an ex-parte application filed by a Lagos lawyer, Mr Toluwani Adebiyi.

    Idris had restrained the NERC and the electricity distribution companies from effecting any increment in electricity tariff pending the hearing and determination of the suit.

    At the resumed hearing of the case on Thursday, Ashimi told the court:“My Lord, I am the counsel representing NERC and we have filed an application seeking to discharge the exparte order.

    “We also filed a preliminary objection challenging the suit in its entirety.”

    Responding, the plaintiff’s lawyer, Adebiyi told the court that he needed more time to reply to the application on points of law.

    Justice Mohammed Idris, however, adjourned sitting to July 21 for hearing of all pending applications.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that at the last adjournment on June 11, NERC had yet to employ the services of a lawyer.

    Adebiyi had at the sitting urged the court to renew the order to preserve the subject matter of the suit.

    “My Lord, everybody is affected. Even this court is running on generator. There is a need to stop NERC from increasing the electricity tariff because Nigerians cannot afford such and there is no justification for such increment,” he said.

    Idris had in a short ruling held that “the ex-parte order remains valid and subsisting.”

    NAN also reports that Adebiyi is seeking an order restraining the NERC from implementing any upward review of electricity tariff without a meaningful and significant improvement in power supply at least for 18 hours in a day in most communities in Nigeria.

    He also wants an order restraining the NERC from foisting compulsory service charge on owners of pre-paid meters until the meters were designed to read charges per second of consumption and not on a flat rate of service not rendered or power not used.

    He wants the service charge on pre-paid meters not to be enforced until there was visible efficient and reliable power supply as being enjoyed in developed countries where the idea of service charge was borrowed from.

    Adebiyi is further asking for an order of court mandating the NERC to generate more power to meet the electricity demands of Nigerians.

    In addition, the lawyer is asking the court to mandate the NERC to make available to all Nigerians within a maximum of two years pre-paid meters to eliminate estimated billing system and arbitrary service charges.

     

  • NERC mulls ultimatum for Discos on meters

    NERC mulls ultimatum for Discos on meters

    •Commission urges patronage of locally made meters

    The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission ( NERC) yesterday said it intends to give the Electricity Distribution Companies (Discos) a 16-month ultimatum to meter all customers.

    Its Chairman, Dr. Sam Amadi, who spoke to reporters in Abuja, said at the expiration of the period, the unmetered customers would not be charged any bills.

    He also insisted that Discos must install meters for customers that have paid their money in the Credit Advance Programme for Metering Implementation (CAPMI) within four months.

    Should they fail to install the meters within four months, the affected customers will be exempted from paying bills until the Discos install their meters.

    The proposal, said Amadi, is to aggressively drive the Discos to address the metering gap in the electricity market.

    He said the commission has chosen to issue an order setting up the cap with an effective implementation date after a moratorium of four months to allow the Discos to appropriately adjust their metering program.

    The chairman added that all estimates being imposed by Discos within the moratorium period shall be strictly based on the Commission Billing Estimation Methodology.

    As soon as the capping regulation commences, he said the extant regulation on estimation methodology will be vacated.

    He said: “The Discos have, we are proposing, up till the next four months before this cap starts. And when the cap starts, the Discos have additional 12 months, making it a total of 16months  within which to meter every customer.

    “If after that 12 months, the customer is not metered, that customers will be excluded from paying bills at all.

    “And customers who have paid their money on CAPMI 45 days delivery of meters that have not delivered, within these four months, the Discos should make sure they completely install meters to all those customers that have paid money for meters.

    “Within that four months, if any CAPMI customer has not been metered, such CAPMI customer after the four months will not be charged any bill until they are metered. “

    He said the commission received petition from some local meter manufacturers alleging that some Discos have violated local content obligation by installing imported meters when there are locally manufactured meters.

    NERC, according to him, has started investigation of the allegation. He urged the Discos to note that the commission will mete out severe sanctions to any operator who violates the regulations on metering and local content.

    Amadi said in the last two weeks, there has been agitation by local manufacturers of meter on low patronage by the Discos.

    The manufacturers, said Amadi, have claimed that foreign meter manufacturers are being patronised at their detriment. He however called on NERC to protect local industry.

    Amadi said: “ It is important to make it clear that the Nigerian electricity industry is designed to be efficient and competitive so that customers have access to adequate and reliable electricity at affordable prices. It is not designed to restrain free trade. Rather, it is designed to contribute maximally to the growth of the Nigerian economy.”

    He said the leadership of the commission is strongly committed to promoting local content because it wants the growth in the electricity sector to contribute to improvement in job creation and household income.

    The chairman explained that it was for this reason that the NERC in 2012 made the regulation on local content obligating every operator in the electricity market to continuously localise employment, services and technology.

    Amadi said in order to overcome meter cloning and other forms of frauds against electricity market, many Discos are resorting to smart meters.

    He promised that NERC’s regulation will provide a supporting framework for smart metering in the Nigerian electricity market.

    The chairman however warned “customers to stop engaging in criminal acts of stealing power. It is this sort of sabotage at the retail level that increases the commercial losses that increase the tariff that consumers pay.

    “So, it is in the interest of consumers to report their neighbours who engage in such criminal activities to the Discos and the security forces. By protecting electrical installations, we reduce the cost of electricity generation, transmission and distribution. We benefit in terms of improved power supply and low tariff.”

    The chairman NERC has authorised the Discos to take severest actions possible to prevent, detect and prosecute customers who by-pass or clone meters, tamper with electrical installation, or in any way defraud them of approved revenue.

    “We call on the police authorities to step up prevention and prosecution of criminal activities in the electricity market,”he said.

  • NERC seeks Buhari’s advice on creation of EMS

    The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) yesterday requested the Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government to advise it on the relevance of the creation of another electricity  regulatory  body that duplicates the functions of the commission.

    Its Chairman, Dr. Sam Amadi told reporters in Abuja that “the act is clear on what we should do and that is what we are doing. A new government is in power and they have to advise us on what to do.

    “We are an independent commission under government. So at the end of the day, I expect that government will look at the law and take a position.”

    There has been a heated debate and opposition from the commission that the last administration shouldn’t have established the Electricity Management Service Limited (EMS) even before the last Federal Government legally instituted the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Authority.

    Amadi said that even if the new government eventually allows EMS to function, it would not hinder NERC from performing its technical and commercial regulatory roles as enshrined in the act.

    The chairman noted that not only did the commission write  a letter to the immediate past President to oppose the creation of EMS, it also opposed it vehemently in the National Assembly.

    Now that a new government is in power, he said, the commission will adhere to whatever directive it receives on the issue even as there is no justification for instituting EMS.

    Amadi said: “But it is on record, NERC opposed it at the National Assembly in a heated debate. We wrote to the President why and we stated clearly and I believe till today there is no justification for that. It is law so we will wait for the new government to tell us what to do. Whatever the government tells us, we will do.”

    He confirmed his awareness of the EMS but insisted that although the law has been assigned, it has not become operational, thus the new government should review the situation and address the two agencies accordingly.

    His words: “All over the world, we know clearly that it is wrong to have double regulations, especially when a regulator does its job.

    “Like we say in law, you are an interested party. The law has been assigned but the law has not been operationalized. It is for government to review and address parties accordingly.”

    According to him, prior to the existence of the NERC, the National Electric Power Policy of 2000 stipulated that there shall be one regulatory body for the power sector.

    He also said that in its electioneering campaign, the present government vowed to recognize only one regulatory body, noting that when Ghana opted for two electricity regulatory bodies it was chaotic for the country.

    He said: “Even before NERC was there, it clearly stipulated that there will be one  regulator doing technical and commercial regulations. We see example in Ghana, where attempt was made to divide that jurisdiction and it ended in chaos.”

    The chairman maintained that inspection is clearly linked in the act with the work of the regulator, stressing that the act allows the regulator to appoint inspectors.

    According to him, there is a conceptual link between technical and commercial regulation because it is the product of technical regulation that feeds into economic regulation.

    He added that  in setting commercial review in tariff, NERC relies on the data it gets from technical inspection, be it network, grid, health and safety code inspection.

    He argued there is no lack of technical regulatory framework in the NERC, stressing that one of the arguments about technical regulation in the commission is that of technical inspection.

    Amadi added that the grid code has been signed into the rule, the stream code is also there alongside  the metering code.

  • NERC seeks Buhari’s advice on creation of EMS 

    NERC seeks Buhari’s advice on creation of EMS 

    The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) Friday requested the Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government to advise it on the relevance of the creation of another electricity regulatory body that duplicates the functions of the commission.

    Its  chairman, Dr. Sam Amadi told reporters in Abuja that “the act is clear on what we should do and that is what we are doing. A new government is in power and they have to advise us on what to do. We are an independent commission under government. So at the end of the day, I expect that government will look at the law and take a position.”

    There has been a heated debate and opposition from the commission that the last administration wouldn’t have established the Electricity Management Service Limited (EMS) even before the last Federal Government legally instituted the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Authority.

    The NERC Friday ignored the existence of EMS to appoint 14 inspectors for the technical sector, a step which journalists at Abuja questioned its essence since it would overlap with the roles of the EMS.

    Speaking, Amadi said that even if the new government eventually allows EMS to function, it would not hinder NERC from performing its technical and commercial regulatory roles as enshrined in the act.

    The chairman noted that not only did the commission write a letter to the immediate past President to oppose the creation of EMS; it also opposed it vehemently in the National Assembly.
    Now that a new government is in power, he said the commission will adhere to whatever directive it receives on the issue even as there is no justification for instituting EMS.

    Amadi said: “But it is on record, NERC opposed it at the National Assembly in a heated debate. We wrote to the president why and we stated clearly and I believe till today there is no justification for that. It is law so we will wait for the new government to tell us what to do. Whatever the government tells us, we will do.”

    He confirmed his awareness of the EMS but insisted that although the law has been assigned, it has not been operationalized thus the new government should review the situation and address the two agencies accordingly.

  • Lawyer warns NERC against electricity tariff hike

    Lawyer warns NERC against electricity tariff hike

    The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and electricity distribution companies have been warned against increasing electricity tariff in the face of a subsisting order of a Federal High Court in Lagos restraining such increment.

    A lawyer and plaintiff in the suit, Toluwani Yemi Adebiyi, said any attempt to increase electricity tariff will amount to a flagrant disrespect of the judiciary, and an action aimed at obstructing justice.

    Adebiyi, in a statement Wednesday, said he was shocked to watch series of interviews on a national television granted by top officials of Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company, in which they advised Nigerians to get ready for electricity increment.

    “I find that action very disrespectful of the judiciary which is currently adjudicating on a case I filed against the planned increment.

    “Let me make it categorically clear that I shall not hesitate to file committal application against the Chairman/Chief Executive Officers of both NERC and the distribution companies if the threat of increment is effected.

    “People must learn to accord the judiciary the needed respect. To be fore warned is to be fore armed,” Adebiyi threatened.

    Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court in Lagos had restrained the NERC and the electricity distribution companies from effecting any increment in electricity tariff pending the hearing and determination of the suit.

    Adebiyi, in the suit, is seeking an order restraining the NERC from implementing any upward review of electricity tariff without a meaningful and significant improvement in power supply at least for 18 hours in a day in most communities in Nigerian.

    He also wants an order restraining the NERC from foisting compulsory service charge on pre-paid meters not until “the meters are designed to read charges per second of consumption and not a flat rate of service not rendered or power not used.”

    The plaintiff prayed that the service charge on pre-paid meters should not be enforced until there is visible efficient and reliable power supply like those of foreign countries where the idea of service charge was borrowed.

    The case comes up for hearing on July 9.

  • Expert advises NERC to retool power roadmap

    The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has been advised to retool the power sector roadmap such that the Distribution, Generation and the Transition Companies synergised and ensured that issues affecting adequate power generation in the country are given priority attention and resolved quickly.

    Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Power Systems (E&M) Services Limited, Bimbo Onafowokan, who gave this advice, said the roadmap would put all the problems in perspective and proffer solutions simultaneously

    He said if there is solution to those problems, they will be solving one problem and creating other problems elsewhere.

    He said the NERC as a regulatory body should put strong measures that would ensure that all the stakeholders performed by creating a platform for them to meet on regular basis, adding that they should be meeting at least once a month to share issues and set targets for themselves.

    Onafowokan, who spoke at the weekend in a telephone interview, said the distribution companies have board members that are equally responsive to the generation company’s board, stressing that in this vein they should in one way or the other share each other’s board so as to have seamless communication along the line.

    He said: “Each of those arms has different problems that are peculiar to it but at the same time you must solve the problems intact, if you don’t solve the distribution companies’ problem, generation companies still suffer, then there’s nothing for TCN, and if you solve the generation companies problem TCN has issues with expansion in transmitting, the distribution will not have anything to distribute,” he further explained.

    He said the roadmap does not address that, it does not create that seamless communication among the major players. “The regulatory body should look at the roadmap once again and all the agreements that was signed by privatised generation companies and see where they can create that seamless communications between the three chairs of the market such that they will be addressing problems simultaneously,”  he advised.

     

     

     

    He said the shortage of gas in the country is as a result of the fact that priority is being given to gas export. According to him, the major gas producing companies-the NLNG and the Brass LNG are majorly for export.

    He said though Nigeria flares about 75million cubic feet of gas per day and export about 35million cubic feet but for internal consumption the country is not making up to 6million cubic feet of gas per day due to vandalism.

    Chairman of NERC, Sam Amadi in a telephone call said there is what he called the Chief Executive Officers meeting which according to him holds every month

    He said the essence of the meeting is to bring all the Discos, Gencos and the TCN as well the Ministry of Power together to discuss issues and set agenda for the operating companies as way forward in the power sector.

  • NERC vows to revoke dormant licences

    NERC vows to revoke dormant licences

    •Presents licenses to four power firms

    The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) yesterday threatened to revoke non-performing licenses  from among the 134 it has so far issued.

    Its Commissioner of Engineering, Abbah Ibrahim, who lamented that most of the licenses have been dormant said they have not gone beyond the stage of  issuance.

    He spoke after the presentation of new licenses to four power firms in Abuja.

    One of the firms,  Pan Africa Solar Limited got a license for a 24megawatts (Mw) solar-powered Independent Power Project (IPP) at Kankia, Katsina State.

    NERC also presented a license to  Nigeria Solar Capital Partners Limited for a 100Mw solar-powered IPP at Ganjuwa, Bauchi State.

    While Proton Energy Limited received a license for an on-grid electricity generation license in respect of a 150Mw gas-fired IPP at Ogorode, Sapele, Delta State, Turbine Drives Limited got a license for a 500Mw gas-fired IPP at Ajaokuta, Kogi State.

    Ibrahim said  the licenses the commission has so far issued ought to have translated to a generation of 20,000Mw even as the country’s required an estimate of 40,000Mw.

    He lamented that since  most of the licenses are not presently delivering power, NERC has started the process of reviewing them.

    He said: “”But within your license, there is a blue book which your license terms and conditions. I am raising this because we have issued 134 licenses  so far, which has translated to over 20,000Mw of power in Nigeria.  We have a requirement for over 40Mw.

    “As we speak now, the issue is that a lot of the licenses are not delivering. And the commission has commenced the process of reviewing those licenses.  And once targets are not met, we have no choice but  to cancel those licenses. I hope that these whole licenses will not go the way of the majority we are looking at.”

    According to him, the licenses contain a blueprint that spells out the terms,  conditions, and milestones that they must accomplish within a certain time limit.

    He vowed that NERC will  enforce stringent terms in the licenses and there will be no option but revocation owing to their non-performance.

    With the revocation, Ibrahim said the commission will be inviting people across the globe to come to Nigeria for investment.

    He said: “So I can assure you that going forward we are going to tighten the screw in terms of licenses in Nigeria. We have no choice but to revoke certain licenses because they are non-performing.

    “And that is the only way we can send the right signal to people  across the world to come and invest in Nigeria.

    “If there is somebody with a piece of paper that is non performing it is still piece of paper. We have no choice but to ensure that they deliver what they are required to.”

  • NERC moves to cap billing for unmetered customers

    NERC moves to cap billing for unmetered customers

    • DISCOs: it’s legalising lawlessness

    The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) plans to cap the consumption that unmetered customers in a particular class could be billed for in a particular month.

    This is because the  Electricity Distribution Companies (Discos) are relunctant to provide meters for their customers.

    But the distribution companies (DISCOs) have kicked against the move, arguing that it amounts to legalising lawlessness on the part of customers.

    An official of the Commission, Mr. Shittu Shaibu, who spoke yesterday during a public consultation in Abuja, said the capping measure “ is aimed at incentivising the Discos to accelerate their metering to guarantee their revenue collection.”

    He said the shortfall would encourage faster metering and improvement in revenue in the long run.

    NERC, according to Shaibu, is not satisfied with the present position of metering, where as large as 44.06 per cent of all registered customers is not effectively metered.

    Responding to the presentation, the Executive Director, Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), Mr. Abimbola Odubiyi, said  the operators were apprehensive that the Credited Advance Programme for Metering Implementation  (CAPMI ) may not meet their revenue requirements.

    To him, it is not the intention of the Discos to over bill customers lamenting that the firms are even losing revenue due to under-billing of the consumers.

    Asking for time for the operators to correct the anomaly which he said was inherited by all the Discos, he noted that the Commission is asking the customers not to pay their bills.

    He argued that “estimated billing is estimated billing,” no matter how NERC presents it to the stakeholders.

    Odubiyi described what  NERC is  trying to do as “legalising a wrongful act. You recently approved estimated billing . But you are now discriminating between those who have meters and those who have no meters.

    “You are telling consumers to waste power without commensurate payment: telling them you don’t need meters. You are increasing our commercial loses.”

    Speaking, the NERC chairman, Dr. Sam Amadi urged the firms to provide meters to their customers if the ceiling option is too difficult for them to cope with.

    Some customers advocated that there should be no billing without meters, noting that metering market could be deregulated since the DISCOs are reluctant to provide meters.

    But Amadi who agreed that the deregulation was a possibility explained that it would lead to adjusting the tariff to reflect the metering acquisition cost. He also explained that the no meter, no billing method would affect investment in the electricity market.

  • NERC moves to cap billing for unmetered customers

    • DISCOs: it’s legalising lawlessness

    The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) plans to cap the consumption that unmetered customers in a particular class could be billed for in a particular month.

    This is because the  Electricity Distribution Companies (Discos) are relunctant to provide meters for their customers.

    But the distribution companies (DISCOs) have kicked against the move, arguing that it amounts to legalising lawlessness on the part of customers.

    An official of the Commission, Mr. Shittu Shaibu, who spoke yesterday during a public consultation in Abuja, said the capping measure “ is aimed at incentivising the Discos to accelerate their metering to guarantee their revenue collection.”

    He said the shortfall would encourage faster metering and improvement in revenue in the long run.

    NERC, according to Shaibu, is not satisfied with the present position of metering, where as large as 44.06 per cent of all registered customers is not effectively metered.

    Responding to the presentation, the Executive Director, Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), Mr. Abimbola Odubiyi, said  the operators were apprehensive that the Credited Advance Programme for Metering Implementation  (CAPMI ) may not meet their revenue requirements.

    To him, it is not the intention of the Discos to over bill customers lamenting that the firms are even losing revenue due to under-billing of the consumers.

    Asking for time for the operators to correct the anomaly which he said was inherited by all the Discos, he noted that the Commission is asking the customers not to pay their bills.

    He argued that “estimated billing is estimated billing,” no matter how NERC presents it to the stakeholders.

    Odubiyi described what  NERC is  trying to do as “legalising a wrongful act. You recently approved estimated billing . But you are now discriminating between those who have meters and those who have no meters.

    “You are telling consumers to waste power without commensurate payment: telling them you don’t need meters. You are increasing our commercial loses.”

    Speaking, the NERC chairman, Dr. Sam Amadi urged the firms to provide meters to their customers if the ceiling option is too difficult for them to cope with.

    Some customers advocated that there should be no billing without meters, noting that metering market could be deregulated since the DISCOs are reluctant to provide meters.

    But Amadi who agreed that the deregulation was a possibility explained that it would lead to adjusting the tariff to reflect the metering acquisition cost. He also explained that the no meter, no billing method would affect investment in the electricity market.

     

  • Chinese firm gets NERC’s nod to produce meters locally

    Chinese firm gets NERC’s nod to produce meters locally

    The National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has granted approval to a Chinese firm,   Golden Horse Co. Ltd, to begin the production of electricity meters in Nigeria.

    The National Coordinator, Chief Executive Officer. Nigeria, China Business Council, Matthew Iwekwe who spoke at a press briefing in Abuja, said domestic production of meters will promote economic growth and save foreign exchnage.

    He said: “The Calabar Free Trade Zone is presently used for the production of the meters. The company has already started full manufacturing of the products.

    “We are also using this medium to call on incoming state governors to key into this program, they should come up with a proposal and feasibility study on what business they want to partner with the Chinese government, as investors will be brought in.

    “Energy is the hub of any development in the world; we need stable energy to run any profitable business. We recently signed a Memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the African Development Bank (AfDB), with focus on energy, and shifting focus from oil.”

    The Chairman, Golden Horse Group, Jacob Wood said the company is building a permanent and lasting bridge between the two countries, so that there will be easy trading.

    Wood said the company is doing all it can to contribute its quota to the development of the country, saying: “We would also want to emphasise that we are fully in support of the government President Muhammadu Buhari.”