Despite the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) April 2024 Supplementary Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO) that adjusted the rate of the Band A customers from N68.9 per kilowatt hour to N225KWh, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) sent out 3,009MW to the 11 electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) on Sunday at 17:39 hour.
Its Independent System Operator made this known on its load profile platform.
The kernel of the upward tariff adjustment is that the band is guaranteed a minimum of 20-hour supply daily, owing to the resultant increased revenue from improved service.
Yet, in term of generation of the same day, the System Operator added in its “Hourly Generation by Generation Companies GenCos,” at 15:00 hour on the same day was 3,370MW from 16 companies.
The data showed that Dandikowa and Delta Gas generated 0MW.
According to the TCN, the SO sent out 4,045.17MW to 11 DisCos on 6th April 2024 and the GenCos produced an average of 4,045MW on same day.
The TCN further noted that on 5th April, 2024, the SO sent out an average of 4,066MW to the 11 DisCos.
It also noted that the GenCos produced an average of 4,123MW on the same day.
On April 3, 2024, NERC announced the hike of tariff for band A customers, explaining that the cost of gas has changed from $2.18/MMBTU to $2.42MMBTU.
According to the commission’s Vice-Chairman, Dr. Musliu Oseni, who announced the new rate, 75% of the country ‘s energy mix was from gas while 25% was from hydro.
He explained that there was a review of the over 3,000 feeders for the band A customers to ascertain their capacity.
The vice-chairman noted that after the audit of the capacity of the feeders only 500 feeders were certified fit to serve the band A customers.
He predicated the commission’s assessment that the feeders were fit to distribute electricity for not less than 20 hours daily on the capacity test.
Besides, the commission issued a press statement last week to note that “Under the revised tariff Order issued by the Commission, DisCos are under an obligation to provide customers classified under Band A service category a minimum average supply of 20hrs/day measured over a period of one week.”
Asked for an assurance of the capacity of the DisCos to supply a minimum of 20 hours per day to the band A at a Ministerial briefing in Abuja on Friday, the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, urged customers in the band that received supply for lesser hours to complain to the commission.
He said: “We implore them to immediately report to NERC if the service is less than 20 hours of electricity.”
Upon the announcement of the new rate, there were complaints from customers that vended credit units from the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) that although they were in lower bands, the energy distributor vended credit of N225/kw to them.
The commission immediately penalised the DisCo with N200milllion fine and insisted that it refund the affected customers before 12th April, 2024.
According to the NERC management that issued the statement, “The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (“Commission”) has taken enforcement action against the Abuja Electricity Distribution Plc (“AEDC”) for non-compliance with the Supplementary Order to the April 2024 Multi-Year Tariff Order 2024 for AEDC (the “Order”).
”AEDC has been fined ₦200,000,000 (Two Hundred Million Naira) for failure to comply with the prescribed customer band classifications for the tariff billing”, NERC said.
Continuing, the management said the
decision followed a detailed review and customer feedback, which revealed that AEDC had applied the new tariff to all customer bands, contrary to the order, which was designed to ensure fair billing practices.
NERC insisted that “AEDC is therefore mandated to: a. Reimburse all customers in Bands B, C, D and E respectively that were billed above the allowed customer categories/tariff bands provided in the Order.
“b. Reimburse through the provision of the balance of customer tokens that the affected customers would be entitled to receive at the applicable rates and all token reimbursements shall be issued to the affected customers by 11 April 2024.
“c. Pay the sum of ₦200,000,000.00 (Two Hundred Million Naira) as a fine for the flagrant breach of the Commission’s Order.
“d. File evidence of compliance with the directives in a & c with the Commission by 12 April 2024.
“The action by the Commission underscores its commitment to protecting consumer rights and ensuring equitable practices within Nigeria’s electricity sector.”
