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Tag: NERC

  • NERC transfers electricity oversight to Lagos

    NERC transfers electricity oversight to Lagos

    The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), in a statement yesterday,  said it has formally transferred regulatory oversight of the state’s electricity market to the Lagos State Electricity Regulatory Commission (LASERC). This comes barely two weeks after the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu signed the Lagos Electricity Bill 2024 into law. 

    Based on the statement by NERC, Lagos Electricity Bill is therefore granted the state autonomy to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity, marking a significant step under the provisions of the amended Electricity Act 2023.

    According to the NERC, based on the provision of the Electricity Act, the Government of Lagos State has complied with the conditions precedent in the laws, duly notified NERC and requested for the transfer of regulatory oversight of the intrastate electricity market in thee state to her.

    The move aligns with the electricity reforms which allow states to establish and regulate their own intrastate electricity markets. Lagos State, having fulfilled the legal requirements, formally requested the transfer of regulatory authority from NERC to LASERC.

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    In response, NERC issued an order mandating the incorporation of new subsidiaries by Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) and Ikeja Electric (IE) to manage intrastate electricity supply and distribution exclusively within Lagos State.

    These subsidiaries, according to NERC, must secure operational licences from LASERC within 60 days, with the full transition set for completion by June 2025.

    This stepp, stakeholders insist, emphasised Lagos State’s determination to take charge of its electricity market, improve supply reliability, and attract investment into its energy sector.

    Lagos State has therefore become the 8th state approved by NERC to establish and regulate a state-owned electricity market, joining the ranks of Enugu, Ondo, Edo, Imo, Ekiti, Oyo, and Kogi.

    The states have therefore advanced the approval from the NERC to establish and operate state-owned electricity markets.

    Publish Periodic Returns on Your websites- SEC Charges Public Companies

    The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a directive requiring all publicly-listed companies to publish their financial statements on their websites effective from January 2025.

    The Commission while issuing the directive in a Circular Thursday, warned that failure to comply with this directive would attract sanctions.

    According to the SEC, “The Securities and Exchange Commission (“the Commission”) has observed that public companies file their periodic returns with the Commission and relevant securities exchanges, without simultaneously publishing same on their websites. This omission is a contravention of Rules 39 and 41 of the Commission’s Rules and Regulations”.

    While noting that  publicly-listed companies routinely file periodic returns with the commission and relevant securities exchanges, the Commission stated that many always failed to make the financial statements accessible to the investing public on their websites, thereby contravening Rules 39 and 41 of the Commission’s Rules and Regulations.

    It clarified that the “rationale for the publication of periodic returns on their websites is to provide seamless access by the public to such information, which would serve as a guide to making sound investment decisions.

    The commission stressed the importance of timely disclosures as a critical aspect of shareholder engagement and investor confidence in the Nigerian equities market and outlined strict enforcement measures for companies that failed to comply with the directive.

    “Public companies are hereby reminded that the rationale for the publication of periodic returns on their websites is to provide seamless access by the public to such information, which would serve as a guide to making sound investment decisions. It is also important to reiterate in this regard that timely disclosures remain a key component of Shareholders’ engagement

    “In line with the foregoing, effective from January 2025, any public company that fails to comply with the requirement of the referenced Rules in respect of the filing of its periodic returns with the Commission, relevant securities exchanges and the simultaneous placement of same on the its website would be penalised as appropriate” the Commission added.

  • Fed Govt’s electricity subsidies rise to N199.64b, says NERC

    Fed Govt’s electricity subsidies rise to N199.64b, says NERC

    Monies paid by the Federal Government as electricity subsidies increased to N199.64 billion in December 2024, according to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) data.

    According to the newly released report, ‘December 2024 Multi-Year Tariff Order,’ electricity subsidies rose by 2.76 per cent to N199.64 billion this month from N194.26 billion in November.

    NERC explained that the rise in the exchange rate, which it pegged at N1,687.45 to the dollar, the increase in inflation to 33.9 per cent, and changes in available generation capacity necessitated the minor review.

    The report showed that the Federal Government retained electricity tariffs across all customer categories.

    While Band-A customers continued to pay N209/kWh, tariffs for customers in Bands B to E were allowed to remain frozen at the rate payable from December 2022.

    With the policy, the Federal Government is expected to pay N29.10 billion (up from N27.86 in November) as subsidies for consumers under Abuja DisCo, while consumers under Ikeja Electric would enjoy electricity subsidies of N26.68 billion from the government.

    Read Also: Don’t do estimated billing, NERC warns DisCos

    On wholesale gas-to-power prices, NERC stated: “The review maintains the benchmark gas-to-power price of $2.42/MMBTU based on the established benchmark price of gas-to-power by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA”.

    The Commission maintained that the “approved tariffs shall remain in force subject to monthly adjustment of pass-through indices including inflation rate, NGN/dollar exchange rate and gas-to-power prices”.

    The development comes following the removal of petrol subsidies by President Bola Tinibu in May 2023.

    The removal of petrol subsidies has since shot up petrol prices at the pump from around N189 per litre to above N1300 per litre.

  • Don’t do estimated billing, NERC warns DisCos

    Don’t do estimated billing, NERC warns DisCos

    The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) yesterday warned electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) not to forcefully migrate customers with faulty meters to estimated billing regime.

    The warning came as the regulator reiterated its directive that the DisCos owe the obligation to replace faulty and old meters at no cost to customers.

     Also, some customers yesterday bemoaned what they described as a ploy by the DisCos to frustrate customers into accepting estimated billing by surreptitiously denying them access to reload energy credits.

    In a statement yesterday, NERC stated that it had been notified that the DisCos were instructing customers to apply and make payments for the replacement of spoilt and obsolete meters in their franchise areas.

    The regulator noted that such instruction by DisCos contravened the Commission’s Order No. NERC/246/2021on the Structured Replacement of Faulty and Obsolete end-use Customer Meters in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).

    The statement reads: “The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission is aware that some Distribution Companies (DisCos) have instructed customers to apply and pay for the replacement of faulty and obsolete meters within their franchise areas.

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    “This instruction contravenes the Commission’s Order No. NERC/246/2021 on the Structured Replacement of Faulty and Obsolete end-use Customer Meters in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry.”

    NERC reiterated that that no customer with a meter should be forcefully migrated to estimated billing.

    According to the regulator, if  any customer’s meter is adjudged by any DisCo to be obsolete or faulty, it is the responsibility of the DisCo to replace the meter free of charge, provided that the fault was not caused by the customer.

    NERC restated its commitment to protect customers’ interests and rights by ensuring compliance with established regulatory standards and enforcing regulatory penalties for non-compliance by its licensees.

    It urged the customers to report cases of non-compliance to its order by any DisCo through its designated channels.

    Some consumers of Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) and Ikeja Electric (IE), yesterday lamented their inability to load electricity tokens on their meters.

    The situation has left several consumers stranded. A consumer on Lawanson, Surulere, under EKEDC, Cecilia Nwadie, said that several attempts to load her energy token in the last two days had been futile.

    The effect of this is that she and her family has remained without power supply.

    She said: “I tried to load my meter, but it failed. All that the meter indicated to me was “CALL”. When I eventually called EKEDC customer care, I was told that the meter has expired and that I should apply for another meter”.

     For IE customers, it was mixed fortune. While some said they were able to load their tokens after several attempts, others insisted they have been unable to log onto the website provided by the utility for updates before the November 14 deadline.

    An angry consumer of IE who identified himself as Ladi Ogundele, alleged that the ploy of the utility is to ensure consumers are placed on estimated billing just to exploit them.

    He explained that the insistence of IE that consumers must pay for meter replacement even after a contrary directive by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and NERC is an indication that the game plan of the utility is to exploit customers.

    The DisCo had been silent since the regulators wade in to ensure adherence to the rules.

    “I think this is an acid test for both FCCPC and NERC. If they allow the DisCos to get away with this apparent disregard for customers, then both agencies of government would have failed,” Ogundele said.

  • NERC warns DisCos against charging customers for faulty meter replacement

    NERC warns DisCos against charging customers for faulty meter replacement

    The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has issued a stern warning to electricity distribution companies (DisCos) over the reported directive asking customers to pay for the replacement of faulty and obsolete meters.

    In a statement via its official X handle on Monday, NERC emphasised that such instruction “contravenes the Commission’s Order No. NERC/246/2021, Structured Replacement of Faulty and Obsolete end-use Customer Meters in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry”, which mandates DisCos to handle meter replacements at no cost to customers.

    According to the Commission, the order explicitly prohibits the forced migration of customers with faulty meters to estimated billing systems.

    It clarified that where a meter is deemed faulty or obsolete, it is the responsibility of the DisCo to replace it free of charge, provided the fault is not due to customer negligence.

    The announcement followed the growing customer complaints and alleged non-compliance by some DisCos. Many customers have raised concerns over being forced to pay for replacements, a practice that NERC describes as illegal and unacceptable.

    Read Also: Adelabu summons TCN, NERC over grid collapse

    “The Commission restates its commitment to protect customers’ interests and rights by ensuring compliance with established regulatory standards and enforcing regulatory penalties for non-compliance by its licensees,” the statement noted.

    NERC also urged affected customers to report non-compliance cases directly to the Commission through phone numbers and email addresses provided to enable swift action against any DisCo violating the order.

  • Ex-NERC chair calls for improved productivity

    Ex-NERC chair calls for improved productivity

    A former Chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Sam Amadi, has called for improved productivity in both the private and public sectors of the economy.

    He gave the advice in Abuja as Guest Speaker at the sixth Annual Lecture of Just Friends Club of Nigeria (JFCN). Amadi’s lecture was entitled: ‘High Cost of Governance as an Impediment to Development” and was chaired by Olorogun Peter Igho, a former Executive Director (Programmes) of Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and former Director General of National Lottery Regulatory Commission.

    According to him, Nigeria’s poor rating in corruption perception index and other indicators of public probity is a cause for concern.

     “As a world leading producer of oil, we ought to be richer than we are. But we know that the wealth of nations does not come mostly from natural resources. Countries like Singapore and South Korea are not so naturally endowed.

    “In fact, they are geographically constrained in many ways. But Nigeria won the geographical lottery in many ways; yet are in many ways victims of Dutch Disease. Natural resources have not translated into wealth. They have mostly turned into a curse. Natural resources in themselves are not a curse. They are a blessing. But a blessing that calls for more work to turn them into lasting benefit to the people. Some of the Scandinavian countries are endowed with oil like Nigeria. They turned theirs into a blessing through smart policies and management. For them, oil resources have lubricated the national innovation system that has made them high income economies. Examples are Norway and Finland,” he said.

    Dr. Amadi, who is currently the Director of Abuja School of Social and Political Thought, stressed the need to mobilize citizens toward a path of productivity.

    He noted that currently, Nigeria has a low-quality public education and a dysfunctional public service structure that weakens the capacity of the state to deliver development.

     “Capacity is an important ingredient of development. With low capacity a country may not be able to generate good policies and effectively implement them. Lessons from successful Asian countries underline the importance of state capacity. These countries succeeded because they have capacity to design good policies and implement them with coherence and effectiveness,” he said.

    Read Also: Adelabu invites TCN, NERC over grid collapse

    In his welcome remarks, the President of JFCN, Mr. Fred Ohwahwa, said the topic was germane for the present time. “From whatever angle you look at it, Nigeria is an apology to its vibrant citizens, the African continent, and the Black race. We are far behind in virtually all metrics of development. And this is in spite of abundant human and material resources the country is blessed with.

     “Our infrastructural deficit is scandalous; our education, health and other sectors are begging for quality intervention. This unfortunate state of affairs is partly attributable to the high cost of governance. And this is at all levels of government. The time has come for us as a nation to review our system of governance with a view to making the people the primary purpose of government,” he said.

    The panelists were  Dr. Ahmed Adamu, an associate professor and a petroleum economist at Nile University, Abuja; Mr. Abdulhakeem U. Mustapha (SAN) and former member, Legal Committee of the National Council on Privatisation; and Dr. Felix Oisamoje, an adjunct Senior Lecturer of Mass Communications at Bingham University, Keffi.

    JFCN is a socio-cultural organisation that fosters and encourages the spirit of oneness, companionship and comradeship amongst members and between the club and other friendly associations. The club is also involved in recreation, sports and engages in acts of philanthropy in favour of the needy members of the society at large. Its members are professionals in engineering, communication, accounting, business, legal and other sectors of the economy.

  • Adelabu summons TCN, NERC over grid collapse

    Adelabu summons TCN, NERC over grid collapse

    Worried at the disturbance on the national grid which threw some sections of the country into darkness twice within the week,  Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu at the weekend summoned the leadership of  the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the Transmission company of Nigeria (TCN) to an emergency meeting. 

    The Minister expressed displeasure at the incident, which he said, was capable of rubbishing the giant strides made in the last one year which has led to an increased generation and distribution of 5, 527 megawatts, a record generation in three years.

    This was made known in a press statement his Special Adviser, Strategic Communication and Media Relations, Mr. Bolaji Tunji issued from Abuja yesterday.

    The statement said Adelabu also constituted a forensic investigation committee  with a mandate to advise the government on necessary solutions to make the national grid robust and reliable in addition to the ongoing efforts of the government like the Presidential Power Initiatives (PPI) and the Nigeria Electricity Transmission Project (NETAP).

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    The Committee is to also establish the root cause of both incidents especially a review of potential sabotage on the system.

    The Committee will holistically review the national grid stability and identify investments and technical capacities required to make the grid smart and resilient.

    In addition, a technical team has been deployed to access the critical nodes on the national grid to identify potential vulnerabilities and proffer recommendations to address these vulnerabilities to prevent future disruptions to the  grid.

    On  Monday, October 14, there was a partial collapse  due to the  tripping of a line at the Jebba Transmission Substation and recurring fault at the Osogbo Transmission Substation. Efforts to restore the grid further resulted in a  setback the following day. The System was however fully restored on Wednesday,  October 16, 2024. There was no grid collapse on Tuesday as was widely speculated as the setback was a continuation of Monday’s restoration efforts on the grid.

    Also what was described on  Saturday, October 19, as grid collapse was  a deliberate protective shut down of the grid as a result of the explosion of the Jebba transformer. And this was restored within two hours. “ What we had were more of grid disturbances than collapses”.

     Preliminary assessment of Jebba incident suggested that the explosion was as a result of ageing equipment unrelated to the initial collapse.

    The six-member committee are; Engr. Nafisat Ali, Executive Director, Independent System Operator (ISO), who leads the committee, Dr. Chidi Ike, Commissioner, NERC, Engr. Ishola (GM. National Control Centre (NCC) , Engr. Emmanuel Nosike, Director,  Transmission, Federal Ministry of Power (FMoP),   Engr. Ali Sharifai (GM, Transmission Service Provider (TSP) and Mr. Adedayo Olowoniyi, Chief Technical Adviser to the Minister of Power.

    The team is expected to present a report to the Minister by November 1,  2024.

  • NERC plans investigative hearing on recurring grid disturbances

    NERC plans investigative hearing on recurring grid disturbances

    • Grid restored after third collapse in one week

    • TCN blames incident on transformer explosion in Jebba

    The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) yesterday announced its plan to conduct an investigative public hearing on the recurring grid disturbances and the attendant nationwide outages.

    The country recorded its third grid collapse in one week yesterday following the explosion of the bus section of a current transformer at 330kV Jebba Transmission Substation.

    The fault was, however, rectified soon afterward,  and electricity supply was  restored.

    The NERC said in a statement in Abuja that the planned investigative public hearing was to identify the immediate and remote causes of the recurring grid collapse and find a permanent solution.

    It said the date and venue of the public hearing would be announced in national dailies.

    Stakeholders are encouraged to participate.

    It said the repeated grid disturbances have reversed  “ many of the gains recently achieved in reducing infrastructure deficit and improving grid stability.’

    It said yesterday’s grid  collapse was  “triggered by an explosion of a current transformer at the Jebba transmission station at 815. a.m. and associated cascade of power plants shutdown arising from the loss of load.”

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    The commission said that in line with the provisions of the Electricity Act 2023, the unbundling of the System Operator function (ISO) out of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) is in progress  and one of its expected gains is that an ISO  will  engender more discipline in grid management and optimise investment in infrastructure.

    The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) confirmed later yesterday that the national grid had been restored after  the  temporary disturbance recorded in the morning.

    The grid   had gone down from 3,041MW to 187MW by 12:00 noon.

    Yesterday’s was the eighth grid collapse recorded in the country so far this year, the first occurring in February 4.

    Subsequent ones came on March 28, April 15, July 6, August 5, October 14, and October 15.

  • NERC to conduct investigative hearing on recurring grid disturbances 

    NERC to conduct investigative hearing on recurring grid disturbances 

    The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), says  plans are ongoing to conduct an investigative public hearing on the recurring incidences of grid disturbances and nationwide outages.

    According to the Commission, the aim is to identify the immediate and remote causes of

    recurring incidences.

    The commission said  in Abuja on Saturday on its Twitter handle that the public hearing was to find a permanent resolution to the challenges of the national grid.

    According to NERC, the date and venue of the public hearing will  be announced in the national dailies and stakeholders are encouraged to participate.

    The commission noted with concern the recent escalating incidences of grid disturbances often leading to power outages in many states.

    Read Also: You have rights after paying for electricity, NERC tells Nigerians

    ” Thus reversing many of the gains recently achieved in reducing infrastructure deficit and improving grid stability.

    ”Initial reports on the grid disturbance that occurred this morning indicate that today’s outage was triggered by an explosion of a current transformer at the Jebba transmission station at 815. a. m. and associated cascade of power plants shutdown arising from the loss of load.

    ”However, efforts to restore supply have advanced with power significantly restored, as at 13 00hrs, in 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT,) ”it said.

    The commission said that in line with the provisions of the Electricity Act 2023, the unbundling of the System Operator function (ISO) out of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) was ongoing.

    The commission said that the unbundling was with the expectation that an independent SO would engender more discipline in grid management and optimise investment in infrastructure.(NAN)

  • You have rights after paying for electricity, NERC tells Nigerians

    You have rights after paying for electricity, NERC tells Nigerians

    The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has enlightened Nigerians that they have a lot of rights that must be met by the service providers.

    NERC through its Commissioner for Customer Affairs, Aisha Mahmoud, during a 3-day Customer Complaints Resolution Town Hall Meeting admonished Nigerians to be familiar with their rights and ensure they demand it from the service providers.

    She said “We do know that most Nigerians don’t know their rights, even though they have a lot of rights because we keep telling customers that when they pay for electricity, they are not just paying for electricity, but they are also paying for services.

     “So they should demand their services be rendered to them. So they don’t know about these rights. We have them among all these beautiful regulations and others on our website, which Nigerians are mostly not aware of. So, we are here just to inform them that you have this right, and you should insist that services be provided to you.

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    “We are here to listen to customers, listen to their complaints, and have those complaints resolved on the spot. So we are here for three days just to listen to whatever customers have to say regarding the electricity industry.”

    Speaking about the meeting, Mahmoud said it was organised to address complaints from customers and noted that it would also enable the Commission to have feedback from the customers.

    Also, the Acting Managing Director of Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company(IBEDC), Engr. Francis Agoha said the service provider is committed to ensuring that the response rate to customers’ complaints exceeds 99 percent.

  • DisCos collected N1.07tr revenue in 2023, says NERC

    DisCos collected N1.07tr revenue in 2023, says NERC

    The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) yesterday revealed that the 11 electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) collected N1.07trillion in 2023.

    The energy distributors, said NERC, failed to collect N385.83billion out of the total N1.46 trillion electricity bills for the year.

    This culminated in 73.64per cent collection efficiency in the year under review, according to NERC document titled: “2023 Annual Report and Account.”

    NERC said: “The total billings to electricity consumers by the DisCos was N1,463.24 billion of which only N1,077.51 billion was collected, leaving a total outstanding of N385.73 billion and corresponding to a collection efficiency of 73.64per cent.”

    On Market Remittances by DisCos, the report said in 2023, a total invoice of ₦858.033billion was issued to all the DisCos for energy received from NBET and for service charges by the MO, out of which a sum of ₦706.73 billion was settled by DisCos, leaving a total deficit of ₦151.30 billion in the market.

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    NERC said this payment translates to an overall remittance performance of 82.37 per cent.

    The report revealed that Eko and Yola DisCos had high remittance performances of 105.76per cent and 105.14per cent respectively to NBET in 2023 while Kaduna achieved the lowest remittance performance to NBET (17.59per cent).

    NERC also said the highest remittance performances to the MO were recorded by Yola, Eko and Ikeja at 90.91per cent, 90.85per cent and 90.38per cent respectively while Kaduna recorded the lowest MO remittance performance of 10.75per cent last year.

    On Market Remittances by Special and Bilateral Customers, NERC said in 2023, the NESI continued to provide electricity to three international bilateral customers – i) Societe Beninoise d’Energie Electrique; ii) Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo; iii) Societe Nigerienne d’electricite.

    It noted that “Cumulatively, these 3 customers received an invoice of $53.55 million from MO and made a payment of $50.36 million. This corresponds to a remittance performance of 94.04per cent. There were 19 active domestic bilateral customers in 2023.

    “Cumulatively, these customers received a total invoice of ₦10,320.84 million from MO and made a payment of ₦8,766.15million corresponding to a remittance performance of 84.94 per cent.”