THE Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has outlined six areas it will focus on to revive the fortunes of Nigeria’s privatised electricity market as the power sector is currently under immense operational stress.

The commission plans to provide a cost efficient tariff for the sector as well as apply sanctions, where appropriate, to ensure operators comply with existing market rules.

Sanusi Garba, vice chairman of the commission, in a communiqué issued after its monthly meeting with the operators, stated that the commission would ensure a self-sustaining power sector by enforcing the commitments made by electricity distribution companies, Discos, on metering of residential consumers, and providing prepaid meters for ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs, of government.

The NERC will ensure a centralised management of revenues collected from all customers are maintained; that the Discos are appropriately capitalised, and procurements made within the sector are prudent.

Also, the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, has restated its commitment to expand the country’s transmission infrastructure and improve on its operation.

Meanwhile, Babatunde Fashola, minister of power, works and housing,  has responded to claims by the Discos that the government’s recent approval of N701 billion for the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, NBET, to cover payments to power generation companies, Gencos, was partial and unable to solve the sector’s challenges.

The Discos had through their trade association, the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors, ANED, made claims that the intervention fund was not the real solution to the sector’s troubles. They also asked the government to consider a holistic solution that would include them for the sector rather than what they said was a half-measure.

But the minister said in response to their claims that the government was not out to reward indolent operators in the sector with financial guarantees or aids, but operators who have shown their commitment to productivity.

He said, in a statement by Hakeem Bello, his senior special assistant on Communication, that “We don’t have contract with an association and the regulator knows what to do in terms of the exercise of its rights and we leave them to take their decisions. What government wanted to achieve was not to give anybody money but to guarantee to those who did their work diligently, honestly and performed their contracts that their entitlements are receivable to be secured and paid.”

On payment of debts owed the Discos by government’s MDAs, Fashola said the government had lately began verifying the debts, and recently paid about N374,551,000 owed by the Federal Secretariat in Abuja to the Abuja Disco as proof of its commitment to paying debts that it could verify.

He promised that the government would continue to pay in that vein, but expressed regrets that some Discos were yet to provide the government all the details required during verifying to pay off debts owed them for electricity they supplied to its MDAs.

The minister also told the meeting that the Federal Executive Council has approved an ‘Energy Recovery Programme’, which, according to him, “cuts across the issues of gas, transmission, metering, loss reduction, contract enforcement, customer service and consumer protection.

—  May 1, 2017 @ 01:00 GMT

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