The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu on Tuesday urged the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the State Commissioners for Energy not to “flex muscles” or start competing.
He also asked them to base their conversation on mutual interest instead of working at a cross-purpose.
He made the call in Abuja during a meeting of the State Electricity Market Development.
“So I want to plead for a harmonious relationship, cordial relationship between the NERC and the State Regulatory Commission. Let us not be flexing muscles,” he said.
Adelabu urged the parties to consider the homes, industry and national economic growth and development instead of turning regulatory power to a personality clash.
According to him, their conversation should be based on mutual interest since no one knows it all.
He asked the state regulators and NERC to work harmoniously because a fragmented electricity environment market can culminate in uncertainty and dispute.
He said: “This concerns the lives of Nigerians. It concerns the lives of our institutions, of our homes, of our industry for economic growth and development. We should not turn it into a personality clash. So the regulators at the Federal and State levels should work hand in hand. A fragmented environment will create uncertainty for investors and regulators alike. It can lead to a dispute.”
The meeting between the minister and the regulators was as a result of the controversy that emanated from the Main Power- SubCo of Enugu State Electricity Regulatory Commission (EERC) downward review of Band A customers tariff from N209/kWh to N160/kwh.
Meanwhile, the Special Adviser on Power to the Executive Governor of Enugu State, Mr. Joe Aneke insisted that NERC has no power to control the state electricity regulators on the fixing of their tariffs since they are based on law and data.
He said: “It can be dished out for people to appreciate. NERC, when this thing happened, did they write, and say, please explain this. But even at that, NERC has no right to control the sub-national regulatory commissions on the determination of their tariff, because the data is there, and then the variables used are clearly spelt out.”
He urged the public to stop seeing the tariff adjustment as a political act.
Aneke added that “People are just raising dust that shouldn’t be there. What Enugu did was purely under their control and under the law. Nobody, and it has no political connotations or colorations.”
According to him, the state commissions are independent of the government so they do their job in accordance with the law and data.
He said the tariff adjustment by the Main Power was cost reflective, stressing it did not touch generation and transmission except distribution.
“It should not be mixed up here. They are independent commissions that is not being controlled by the state, neither being controlled by any political inclinations. They do their job based on the law, the requirements, the data. And what they did was cost-reflective.”
Also responding, the Forum of Commissioners of Power and Energy in Nigeria (FOCPEN) Chairman, Prince Ekan Williams said the forum will not support any amendment of the Electricity Act 2023 that seeks to centralize powers that are already devolved.
He described the proposed amendment of the Act as counter-productive.
He said: “Furthermore, we need to clear the states of position on the proposed amendment to the Electricity Act. For past times, we cannot support an amendment that undermines the spirit or intents of the original Act, particularly those that seek to centralize powers that are now dissolved.
“We believe this proposed amendment runs wrong counter to the progress we are planning to achieve. It must also address issues of subsidy management and fiscal transparency in the power sector.”
He said a new electricity subsidy regime is being implemented without clarity on its implications for state-licensed markets and without prior consultation.
Credit: thenationonlineng.net
