A Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday reinstated its earlier order restraining the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) from implementing the new electricity tariff scheduled to come to effect on June 1, 2015.
Justice Mohammed Idris, who renewed the order, had in a ruling on an ex-parte application filed by a Lagos lawyer, Toluwani Adebiyi, barred NERC and the electricity distribution companies from effecting any increment in electricity tariff pending the hearing and determination of the suit.
Adebiyi had urged the court to stop the upward review of electricity tariff without a meaningful and significant improvement in power supply at least for 18 hours in a day in most communities in Nigeria.
The lawyer is also praying the court for an order restraining NERC from foisting compulsory service charge on pre-paid meters not until “the meters are designed to read charges per second of consumption and not a flat rate of service not rendered or power not used.”