The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has ruled that the Enugu Electricity Regulatory Commission has no regulatory power to fix the electricity price when the power is generated and transmitted from the national grid.
A public notice issued by NERC on Thursday night clarified that although the 2023 Electricity Act empowers states to regulate electricity within their jurisdictions, such regulatory powers do not override the authority of the National Assembly to legislate on electricity matters across the federation.
The notice was titled, “The Application Of Multiple Tariff Regimes In The Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry.”
Recall that the reduction of tariff for Band A customers in Enugu State had created confusion and mixed reactions in the sector on who would pay for the shortfall of the tariff. But the electricity regulatory body said, “States do not have jurisdiction over the national grid and over electric power stations established under federal laws/operating under licences issued by the Commission; they must holistically incorporate the wholesale costs of grid supply to their states without any qualification or deviation in their design of tariffs for end-use customers in order not to distort the dynamics of the market or be prepared to make a policy intervention by way a subsidy for any deviation in the tariff structure that distorts the wholesale generation, transmission and legacy financing costs in NESI.”
