Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), has said that the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI), is still in its “infancy”, hence, close monitoring and supervision must be improved, to ensure compliance with the grid code, market rules, and other relevant industry standards.
The Commission released this in its final report on operations and technical audit of market and system operations of TCN’s reports.
This is as the labour unions began a nationwide picketing of electricity distribution companies over an increase in electricity tariff on Monday, 13th May, 2024.
The NERC announced hike in the electricity tariff for Band A customers on April 3 and disclosed that those affected would pay ₦225 per kWh against the previous rate of ₦68 per kWh. The hike represented a 240 per cent increase.
The electricity tariff hike had caused a nationwide uproar, with NLC and many Nigerians demanding a reversal.
NERC in a report said the current electricity supply is not economically driven, “It is very difficult to call the arrangement we have today as an economically driven market, as it is not efficient, and prices are not determined on the dynamic behaviour of the network, competitive pricing and consideration of the other operating parameters like congestion,” the report stated.
It added that there was a need for developing the network planning documents, so that the expansion projects are selected and implemented based on engineering principles.
“The National Control Centre must be upgraded to serve as the nerve centre of NESI,” NERC added.
Although the country’s generation installed capacity is 12, 954 megawatts, according to NERC’s data, only 5,755MW is currently generated.
The Commission said the installed capacity is not utilised due to transmission and distribution bottlenecks, frequency management coupled with Discos low demand, and transmission lines congestion.
The National Control Centre is not fit for purpose in a privatised electricity market. A comprehensive plan must be developed and implemented to equip the NCC control room with a functioning SCADA system, that will enable the operators to oversee the grid performance at all nodes in real-time,” the report added.
The NERC’s recommendations come to the fore, as labour unions said the nationwide picketing of utility firms, followed a joint directive from the leadership of both the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) at the weekend to their members, in protest of the tariff hike.
We write to inform you of the picketing action scheduled to take place in the offices of the NERC and Electricity Distribution companies (DISCOS) in all states, including the FCT, the unions said in a joint statement by NLC’s Ag General Secretary Chris Uyot and his TUC counterpart Anka Hassan
“The action will jointly take place on Monday, 13th of May, 2024 nationwide simultaneously. Therefore, the two Labour centres are directed to work together to carry out this important action. While counting on your usual cooperation, kindly accept the assurances of our goodwill and highest regards.”
NLC President, Joe Ajaero, led members of the NLC and TUC in the protest with the workers asking for an immediate reversal in the hike of the electricity tariff. Their grievances is against the hike in electricity tariff that has been having negative effects on the populace, and asked the Federal Government to reverse it. The picketing will continue until the demands for the reversal are met.
Although Nigeria currently has more than 26 power plants, they have not been able to generate more than 5000MW of electricity for the country’s over 200 million population while experts says the country needs at least 30,000MW to reach sufficiency.
The NERC acting under the provisions of the Nigeria Electricity Act, ordered the establishment of an Independent System Operator (ISO) to take over the market and system operations functions of the TCN.
