THE Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Sanusi Garba, has stated that the agency has not approved a recent tariff rate adjustment in the power industry.
The last tariff review, Garba stated at Abuja on Friday, was approved on December 31, 2021, and took effect in February of this year.
He stated, “I want to, on behalf of the management of NERC, clearly state that as of today (Friday), we have not approved any rate review and there is no indication that any electricity distribution company is increasing its tariff.
“If you notice that the rate you buy electricity has changed within the last one to three weeks, we want evidence. The information posted on the NERC website was the last tariff rate review in December 2021.
“Our function is to approve applications for tariffs for the distribution companies, and we have not received any.
“We have clearly said that we have an obligation by law to do minor review every six months to take care of inflation, forex and so on.”
Speaking also the Commissioner, Market Competition and Rates, NERC, Musiliu Oseni, said the Eligible Customers Regulations were still in existence.
The Nigerian News Agency, stated that the qualified customer legislation allows electricity producing companies to sell power directly to clients with monthly use of more than two megawatts/hour.
Oseni went on to say that the regulation and framework are in place, and the commission has sent a letter to market operators instructing them to stop recognizing some potential clients.
He said that the customers were halted because they had not obtained the commission’s consent at the time.
He stated, “As of today, we have a few customers that have been approved as eligible customers pending the review of the necessary documentation of other customers.
“Some of the customers that are yet to secure approval have some challenges, which include the inability of their potential generators to sell additional capacity to them.
“Under that framework, many of the generators had a contract with the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Company, and you cannot contract the same capacity twice.”
According to Oseni, such generators are already renegotiating their contracted capacity with NBET in order to free up capacity to sell to eligible clients.
