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Tag: Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC)

  • NERC directive affects only high premium customers – Kaduna Electric

    NERC directive affects only high premium customers – Kaduna Electric

    The Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company says it has already provided Maximum Demand Customers (MD) under its operational area with prepaid metres to ensure accuracy in billing system.

    This is contained in a statement issued by the company’s Head of Corporate Communication, Mr Abdulazeez Abdullahi, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Kaduna.

    Abdullahi said that the company gave the statement to clarify on the recent directive of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

    NAN recalls that NERC had directed customers not to honour estimated bills submitted to them by the distribution companies if metres were not provided.

    However, Abdullahi said tha, the directive only affected Maximum Demand (MD) customers, who were largely industrial and other high premium electricity users.

    He said the commission had earlier directed that all electricity distributors should provide metres to their MD customers.

    “Kaduna Electric had metered all its Maximum Demand customers even before the expiration of the NERC deadline.

    “The Company is also making concerted effort to ensure that all non-Maximum Demand customers are metered,” Abdullahi said.

    NAN recalls that company had late last year inaugurated a five-year metering plan to deploy 500,000 smart metres in its franchise area.

    The company had said it would provide an average of 100,000 metres to Kaduna, Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara states every year for five years.

    “The integrity of bills submitted to all our MD customers are not in any doubt and we always try to be fair and transparent when billing the unmetered non-MD customers,” he said.

  • Stakeholders give measures to reduce energy sector’s challenges

    Stakeholders give measures to reduce energy sector’s challenges

    Stakeholders in the nation’s power sector have identified measures to reduce the challenges inherent in the power sector.

    They identified the measures in a communique at the end of an interactive forum organised by the Market Operator, an arm of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

    The communique issued in Abuja on Monday was jointly signed by Mr. Sola Adeyegbe of Ibadan Generating Company (GENCO), Mr. Kabiru Adamu of TCN and Emeka Akpara of Omotosho Electric Power Plc.

    The communique said that the GENCOS had the capacity to generate 8,500MW of electricity for the country.

    The GENCOs, however, called for an improvement in transmission and distribution capacity to accommodate their envisaged generation.

    It said that the GENCOs also called for centralisation of market collection and appropriate disbursement based on the agreed percentages.

    According to the communique, the GENCOs and Service Providers have called for the declaration of eligible customers in the nation’s power sector.

    They also advocated for the denomination of gas price in Naira with the DISCOs calling for harmonisation of currency for all transactions in the market.

    It said that the GENCOs also demanded for the payment mechanism for their outstanding N504 billion owned it by the sector players.

    According to the communique, the DISCOs advocate for the implementation of the last tariff review.

    The DISCOs called for immediate payment of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) outstanding debts to improve liquidity in the market.

    It further said that the DISCOs made case for provision of subsidy in the market to support purchase of power from the GENCOs.

    According to the communique, the service providers recommended the formation of a metering company to manage both trading and consumers metering to ensure standards and efficient deployment of meters in the industry.

    It said that the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET) should be empowered to fulfill its mandate of bridging the revenue shortfall in the electricity market.

    It resolved that the Transmission Service Provider (TSP) should have a clear service level agreements with DISCOs and GENCOS for effective service delivery.

    The Market Operator and Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) should be mandated to enforce full compliance of the market rules and sanction the noncompliance by defaulting stakeholders.

     

  • Fashola permits customers to buy power from Gencos

    Fashola permits customers to buy power from Gencos

    The Minister of Power Works & Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, has directed the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to permit eligible customers to buy power directly from the electricity generation companies (Gencos).

    According to him, this power of direct purchase of power is one of the four categories of the permits provided for in section 27 of the Electric Power Section Reform Act 2005.

    The commission’s Head of Public Affairs, Dr. Usman Arabi made this known in a statement yesterday. 

    NERC said that: “The declaration which permits electricity customers to buy power directly from the generation companies is in line with the provisions of Section 27 of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2005 whereby eligible customers are permitted to buy power from a licensee other than electricity distribution companies.

    “In exercising the power conferred on him by the said Act, the Honourable Minister of Power Works and Housing, directed the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (the Commission) to permit four categories of customers to buy power directly from a licensee other than electricity distribution companies.”

    The first category of eligible customers comprises of a group of end-users registered with the Commission whose consumption is no less than 2MWhr/h and connected to a metered 11kV or 33kV delivery point on the distribution network and subject to a distribution use of system agreement for the delivery of electrical energy. The next category of eligible customers are those connected to a metered 132kV or 330kV delivery point on the transmission network under a transmission use of system agreement for connection and delivery of energy.

    Other categories of customers under the declaration consists of those with consumption in excess of 2MWhr/h on monthly basis and connected directly to a metered 33kV delivery point on the transmission network under a transmission use of system agreement. Eligible customers in this category must have entered into a bilateral agreement with the distribution licensee licensed to operate in the location, for the construction, installation, and operation of a distribution system for connection to the 33kV delivery point.

    The last category are eligible customers whose minimum consumption is more than 2MWhr/h over a period of one month and directly connected to the metering facility of a generation company, and has entered into a bilateral agreement for the construction and operation of a distribution line with the distribution licensee licensed to operate in the location.

    The new policy directive is expected to bring into play new and stranded generation capacities which may be contracted between generation companies and eligible customers. The declaration further provides that at least 20% of the generation capacity added by the existing or prospective generation licensee to supply eligible customer must be above the requirement of the eligible customer and is supplied under a contract with a distribution or trading licensee at a price not exceeding the average wholesale price being charged electricity distribution companies by the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trader Ltd. The conditions for the declaration of an eligible customer is subject to review by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission from time to time. 

  • Electricity: Abuja firm raises alarm over increasing attacks on staff

    Electricity: Abuja firm raises alarm over increasing attacks on staff

    • Petitions IGP over DPO’s conduct

    Abuja Electricity Distribution (AEDC) Plc has expressed concern over what it describes as an increasing spate of attacks on its field workers, describing it as unwarranted, vicious, inhuman and criminal.

    It said no action of AED Plc staff doing their legitimate job warrants the use of bullets to scare them or attack them with dangerous weapons like shovel, especially where there are redress mechanisms put in
    place by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and AED Plc as a Company which holds the customer in very high esteem.

    The company made this disclosure in a statement on Thursday.

    According to the statement, the Company said a fondness for self-help is a criminal breach of the right of the staff who are carrying out their legitimate duties.

    A statement issued by the Company on Sunday also disclosed that its management has written a petition to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) against the Divisional Police Officer of Kubwa in Abuja, Mr.
    Ayobami Surajudeen for what it described as the unprofessional way he handled a case of assault and threat to the lives of three AED Plc staff.

    “We write to register our petition against the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Kubwa Divisional Police Station – Mr. Abayomi Surajudeen for the unprofessional way he handled a case of assault and
    threat to lives of three members of our staff, who were intimidated, assaulted and manhandled by two mobile policemen attached to Pet Leisure Park, Kubwa, whilst our staff were carrying out their
    legitimate duties”.

    Pet Leisure Park is a private firm located at 2/1 Junction in Kubwa, Abuja.

    In the statement, AED Plc catalogued the series of attacks visited on its workers by some members of the public. According to the statement, a staff of the Company who was on a revenue recovery exercise in Gwagwalada, a satellite town of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was viciously attacked and hit at the back of his head with a shovel, as a result of which a deep cut was inflicted on him.

    Before then, a pregnant cashier was also harassed by a mobile policeman while in Kubwa, AED Plc staff who were on revenue drive were prevented from disconnecting a debtor customer by mobile policemen who had to fire live rounds to scare the staff away.

    In the petition to the IGP, AED Plc narrated how its men were prevented from disconnecting electricity supply to the premises of Pet Leisure Park by the mobile policemen on guard duty despite all
    entreaties and explanation. Not ready to allow the AED Plc men do their job, “the policemen unleashed their full might on our team and fired two shots of live ammunition in the process.”

    Apparently scared by the conduct of the mobile policemen, the AED Plc and in order to avoid any irreversible situation, withdrew from the scene and quickly reported the matter at the Divisional Police Headquarters in Kubwa where Mr. Surajudeen is the DPO. The AED Plc men were directed to report at the Station the following day of the incidence, which they complied with but were shocked to hear that they would be charged for inciting the disturbance of public peace.

    According to the statement, this sounded quite unbelievable until the AED Plc men were arraigned in Court as threatened by the Kubwa DPO. AED Plc said although the most potent tool it has for the recovery of its revenue from debtor customers is to discontinue the supply of electricity to them, the tool of disconnection is only deployed when all efforts to persuade the customer to settle his/her outstanding bill has failed.

    The resort to self-help and the use of dangerous weapons by an aggrieved customer, therefore, amounts to an attempt to deny it of revenue accruing to it as well as intimidate its workers who are permitted by the law of the land to undertake the activity.

    The Company said while it will not compromise its relation with customers, it also has a duty as an organisation to protect its workers who are also connected one way or the other to the customers.

    It, therefore, appealed to customers and all members of the public to always exercise restraint and not be quick in resorting to physical assault whenever there is any disagreement between them and the staff
    of AED Plc. The Company, according to the statement, always handles the complaints of its customers with all seriousness as they remain the reason why it is in business.

  • Power operators grapple with N809b shortfall

    Power operators grapple with N809b shortfall

    …Urges FG to review N20b CAPEX cap
    The Electricity Distribution Companies under the auspices of Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) Thursday complained that the N809 billion current shortfall of the operators does not encourage liquidity.

    Addressing journalists in Abuja, the association’s Executive Director, Mr. Sunday Oduntan, said that “the figure of the shortfall now is N809.8 billion in the whole industry.”

    He described it “as the revenue that is accruable to the industry that is not there, stressing that the regulators in the sector are very inconsistent and perhaps inexperienced.

    He recalled that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) fixed its tariff late December 2015, but scheduled that the tariff should be effective on February 4 this year.

    This delay, according to him, caused a loss of N12.8 billion across the power sector value chain.

    He urged Nigerians to ask the government to state how to tackle the liquidity issue that the sector is now grappling with by giving assurance on gas supply, and seeing to the possibility of selling to local consumers of gas in Naira.

    Continuing, Oduntan said: “When you sell to me in dollar and I receive my money in Naira, it cannot work. You should look how best to factor these things such that at the end of the day, this thing will work. Not only selling in dollar, they are not selling at the rate recognized by the tariff. N197 is the allowed Naira /dollar exchange in MYTO 2015. That means I am not allow to sell my electricity based on the tariff computed on the bases of N197/$. So any increase in dollar is nobody’s business but my burden to carry.”

    The Executive Director submitted that there is need for help for the sector for if the DisCos die, transmission would die and generation would also die.

    He added that “now the problem we have is that there is a lot of outstanding liabilities to be paid. We are owing NBET, we are owing market operators. We have been unable to pay… Shortfall does not encourage liquidity.”

    According to him, the operators cannot continue to run a system that does not allow the re-engineering of their balance sheet.

    He urged the government to make way for the recognition of shortfall in the electricity market.

    Oduntan called on the NERC to do the needful by making provision for a tariff that reflects the current reality in the market.

    According to him, since handover of the entities to private sectors several regulatory setbacks have hindered the DisCos from meeting their targets in the performance agreements.

    He called for an upward review of the N20 billion Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) limit that the Federal Government has allowed the companies, stressing that it has tied the hands of the investors and hindered them from expanding their businesses.

    The implication of that cap in the CAPEX, said Oduntun, “they (government) needs to cap it at some point as they want to avoid tariff shock. If it is very high tariff will be very high, if it is very low, tariff will be very low. But if you are looking at the reality in the market, while we are taking decisions on these things. Under the MYTO, I am only allowed to spend a certain amount; N20 billion and that money is not enough.”

    He also called on government that: “We must do everything that will make the DisCos balance sheets bankable. If it is not bankable no banks will lend you money.”

  • NERC decries incessant electrical accidents at EEDC

    NERC decries incessant electrical accidents at EEDC

    The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has decried the worrisome electricity accidents resulting in 14 deaths and 5 injuries in 2016 alone in the Enugu Electricity Distribution Network (EEDC).

    The Acting Chairman of NERC, Dr Anthony Akah, expressed the worry in a statement by Dr. Usman Arabi, Head, Public Affairs Department of NERC in Abuja on Monday.

    Akah frowned at EEDC’s violation of NERC’s standards on performance.

    He expressed dismay over alleged disregard of the commission’s directives on mass disconnection of communities and high incidences of high estimated billing resulting from inadequate electricity metering of its customers.

    He said among the various violation of EEDC was its failure to submit inventory data for 2016 to the commission; hence it was slammed a fine of N13 million.

    Akah said  it was on  record that from January to September, EEDC recorded over 2,466 unresolved electricity complaints from customers who were dissatisfied with services rendered.

    He said NERC would open  its 17th forum office to  ensure  speedy resolution of  complaints by electricity customers within EEDC’s network .

    He said the members of the forum were appointed among representatives of all classes of customers, including industrial, commercial and residential.

    Akah said the forum was devoid of class, adding that electricity customers across the country must desist from taking electricity complaints to court.

    He urged customers with electricity issues to approach the forum when dissatisfied.

    According to him, growth and development of the electricity sector remains a joint responsibility of both operators and electricity customers .

  • NERC job: I’ll honour Senate screening – Prof Akinwande

    …Says I didn’t turn down the appointment

    Prof. Akintunde Ibitayo Akinwande, nominated for the Chairmanship of Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), has said that he will honour an invitation for screening by the Nigerian Senate after clearing with his current employer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), U S A.

    This was contained in a letter, dated 26th October, 2016, to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy, Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe, sent through the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Sen. Ita Enang.

    According to a statement by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, Prof. Akinwande said he did not turn down the offer by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    The Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science explained that: ‘‘News reports in Nigeria that I have rejected President Buhari’s nomination to be Chairman of Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission have been brought to my attention.

    ‘‘I have the greatest respect for President Buhari. I am fully behind the change he has brought and is bringing to the way Government business is conducted in Nigeria.

    ‘‘I am deeply honored that Mr. President and his team thought me worthy for this important national assignment and sought me out for it.  I  am  a  tenured  professor  of  electrical  engineering  at  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology.

    ‘‘As such I am contractually  constrained  to  seek  formally  the  consent  of  the  university  for  a  leave  of  absence  before presenting myself to the Senate for screening and if confirmed take on the assignment.’’ he added

    He apologized to the Senate Committee for not showing up for the screening process scheduled for Tuesday, October 25, 2017, noting that it was not out of disrespect for the institution.

    He said he would be available for the screening after clearance from the MIT.

  • Liquidity, major challenge facing nation’s power sector – NERC

    Liquidity, major challenge facing nation’s power sector – NERC

    The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), says the challenge bedeviling the nation’s power sector is lack of access to liquidity to promote investment in the sector.

    The Acting Chairman of NERC, Dr Anthony Akah stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday.

    “There is no doubt that every country has challenges and the power sector in Nigeria has its own challenges, and one of the challenges that we have is the issue of funding.”

    He said that investment in the power sector required huge amount of fund, noting that the non-availability of adequate fund constituted a hurdle to speedy development of the sector.

    He said that in a bid to enforce standard in the industry, NERC was ensuring that all players stick to the specified rules and regulation governing the sector in Nigeria.

    “We need to make sure that we rightly price tariff and also make sure that there is market discipline that the companies play according to the rules.

    “We need to make sure that we increase monitoring mechanism to ensure that all the players adhere, or we have them sanctioned.”

    He said that NERC was guiding against the abuse of market power by stakeholders in the value chain.

    Akah said that the commission as the sector regulator was also ensuring that consumers get the right value for the tariff paid on electricity.

    He said the commission was also developing the best regulatory framework to attract investors to the sector.

    “What we are doing is to make sure that we give the investors that are coming, a fair return on their investment.

    “We want to make sure the tariff we guarantee is right, so that at the end of the value chain, the distribution companies would be able to remit the money.”

    The NERC acting chairman also identified inefficiency in revenue collection by the distribution companies as a major challenge facing the sector.

    “The challenge of inefficiency in revenue collection is too high, the regulator has a lot of ample power to deal with these issues, but we are also facing a challenge.

    “Right now some distribution companies have gone to court and got restraining order on NERC on enforcing the market rules.

    “The market rules say that if you are not able to remit the money covering the power that was sent to you as a distribution company, your license will be withdrawn.”

    Akah explained that full collection and remittance of the needed percentage of the fund by the distribution companies to other players in the electricity value chain would improve liquidity.

    The acting chairman said NERC and the FG were making plans to pay up the debt owed distribution companies by MDAs, adding that the payment would also ensure liquidity to the sector.

    He said the commission was developing a mechanism to smoothen electricty payment by consumers.

    “We are also to ensure that all the consumers pay for the electricity they consume.

    “Some of the consumers had said they were not going to pay, saying that they were not getting the service for their payment, but now they are paying,” he said.

  • NERC fines Benin, Port Harcourt DisCos N6.2m

    NERC fines Benin, Port Harcourt DisCos N6.2m

    The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has fined Benin and Port Harcourt electricity distribution companies N6.220 million over failure to comply with the decisions of Forum Offices rulings in complaints filed by their respective customers. 

    The Commission in Directive 153 imposed the sum of N5, 010, 000. 00 sanction on Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) for not complying with the decision of the Forum in complaints filed by Messrs Ikponmwosa Ogiesoba Barry; S. C. Ogoke; and F. E. Ubuane. 

    According to the commission in a statement yesterday, the Forum Office is made up of five members of the public and handles complaints that are unresolved at the customer complaint unit of electricity distribution companies. 

    Both Barry and Ubuane had filed complaints before the Benin Forum Office alleging fraudulent estimation of their electricity bills to which the Forum Office ruled in their favour, while Ogoke in his complaint contested the amount of fixed charge he was to pay the utility company. 

    However, Benin Disco ignored the directives of the Forum Office in those instances and the matter was subsequently referred to the Commission who issued Directives 153 upon completion of enforcement proceedings.    

    According to Directive 153, “The Commission hereby fines BEDC Ten Thousand Naira per day from April 14, 2016 to September 28, 2016 making a total (N1, 670, 000) One Million, Six Hundred and Seventy Thousand Naira Only” in each of the three instances bringing the fines to a grand total of (N5, 010, 000) Five Million and Ten Thousand Naira Only.  

    The Directive stipulates further, “The above notwithstanding, BEDC shall still comply with the Forum decisions” and that the fines should be paid within two weeks from September 28, 2016 when the Directive was signed after which it attracts five per cent interests daily.

    In a related development, the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) in Directive 155 was sanctioned over its failure to comply with the Port Harcourt Forum Office decision in a complaint filed by one Toba Aremu Olugbemi. 

    The complainant had on May 11, 2016, lodged a complaint to customercare@phed.com.ng and nancy.abdala@phed.com.ng over non-availability of meter to which there was no response from PHED. Further directive from the Forum Office was also not complied with in violation of Section 11 (6) of the NERC Customer Complaints Handling: Standards and Procedure Regulation 2006 and Section 63 (1) of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2005. 

    PHED was consequently fined (N10, 000. 00) Ten Thousand Naira per day from May 30, 2016, to September 28, 2016, when Directive 155 was signed. The company is expected to pay the total fine within two weeks after signing of the Directives and it subsequently attracts five per cent daily for defaulting.  

  • NERC urges managers to monitor power investors’ performance 

    NERC urges managers to monitor power investors’ performance 

    The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has urged the performance managers of operating companies in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) to monitor performance agreements signed with the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) when the companies were being privatised as well as adhere to key performance indicators (KPI) with the Commission.

     

    The General Manager, Legal, Licensing and Enforcement, Mrs. Olufunke Dinneh, who represented the acting chairman, Dr. Anthony Akah, said this in a training at the Commission’s headquarters, Abuja. 

     

    A statement of the commission that made this disclosure on Thursday quoted him as saying: “You should no longer count yourselves among Nigerians who are lamenting the challenges in the power sector but you should brace up to fix the sector.” 

     

    Akah, according to the statement, told participants that some Nigerians had expressed reservations over possible outcome of the privatisation but that the Federal Government in mitigating such fears created the Commission to formulate operating standards and codes. 

     

    The chairman said “There should be effective monitoring of performance agreements and KPI. The Commission working with BPE, as well as other stakeholders and Nigerians want explanation on compliance with the agreements and KPI signed by the private investors and those of you at this training have a role to play in this.”

     

    According to him, “The regulator has the responsibility to ensure accountability within the electricity supply value chain. That is why the Commission created standards and codes and you are employed to ensure your respective companies abide by those standards within the regulatory landscape in addition to the performance agreement signed by your management” when they took over the erstwhile public utilities. 

     

    She told the participants at the training that their failures to assist their respective management to play by the rules would attract the regulators sanctions; adding that the industry is now regulated and as such, companies in the industry, irrespective of the ownership structure, are expected to play by the rules. 

     

    Participants at the two day training were drawn from about 37 operating companies across the electricity supply value chain.