*Says Benin, Niger owing Nigeria N31.57 electricity bills
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has said that it is working closely with the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trader (NBET) to sanction the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) and the Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC) over the breach of some industry regulations.
NERC has also disclosed that the invoices issued to its international customers (Societe Nigerienne d’electricite – NIGELEC and Communaute Electrique du Benin – CEB) were N29.50million and N2.07billion, respectively, adding that the country had yet to receive payments from these customers.
The regulatory agency for the Nigerian power sector, said that while majority of the 11 Distribution Companies (Discos) had been able to adhere largely with the rules, the EEDC and YEDC had yet to comply.
NERC had threatened in the last quarter of 2019 to withdraw the operational licences of the power distribution firms, accusing the Discos of breaching the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA).
It accused the companies of flouting, among others, the 2016-2018 minor review of MYTO 2015 and minimum remittance Order for the Year 2019 and issued a 60-day ultimatum for the Discos to explain why their licences should not be revoked.
But explaining why it declined taking enforcement action against the eight Discos in its latest quarterly report, NERC explained that the rest of the Discos had met the conditions set for them.
It said: “In a bid to ensure compliance to the industry rules and regulations, the commission continues its enforcement actions against several operators for violation of rules and infractions.
“In this regard, the commission, during the fourth quarter of 2019, issued a notice of intention to cancel licences (NICL) of the underlisted Discos believed to have breached EPSRA, terms and conditions of their respective distribution licences.
“Including the 2016-2018 minor review of MYTO 2015 and minimum remittance Order for the Year 2019, as firstly demonstrated by their July 2019 market settlement.
“The commission required each of the eight Discos to show cause in writing within 60 days from the date of receipt of the notice as to why their licences should not be cancelled in accordance with section (74) of ESPRA.
“Following the submissions by the Discos, a public hearing was conducted by the commission in December 2019. It is noteworthy that all the Discos with the exception of Enugu and Yola had complied with the minimum remittance Order for the period under review.
“The commission is working with NBET to ensure that the relevant provisions of the vesting contracts between the two Discos and NBET are activated to remedy the infraction” NERC said.
The regulator said that it was also continuing with the 21 enforcement actions brought forward from the preceding quarters against a number of operators for violations of rules and infractions.
It said that the violations included the breach of regulations and orders, accidents and electrocution cases, failure to provide required data within a timeline and the failure to adhere to forum decisions among others.
The commission noted that enforcement actions against violations, breaches and infractions of regulations, orders and technical codes of the NESI (Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry) remain key mandates of the regulator and promised to continue in enforcing the rules.
NERC added that the invoices issued to its international customers ( Societe Nigerienne d’electricite – NIGELEC and Communaute Electrique du Benin – CEB) during the same period were ₦29.50million and ₦2.07billion respectively, stressing that NBET had yet to receive payments from these customers during this period.
