As 2019 kicks off in earnest, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has highlighted some of the key regulatory initiatives which it hopes will position the electricity market for growth.
These plans include: to fund the revenue gap and the tariff deficits which has accumulated, as well as tackle market liquidity.
NERC also plans to close the metering gap which is currently prevalent across the country, stating that there are already strategies in place to ensure that this happens this year.
Meanwhile, March 31st, 2019 has been set as the deadline for all the power distribution companies in Nigeria to complete the enumeration of their customers.
“The Commission will also accelerate the completion of ongoing customer enumeration, a communique by the power regulatory commission stated.
The Commission presented a heads up on its regulatory initiatives planned for implementation in the year 2019 with a primary focus on improving market liquidity, funding of the revenue gap and accumulated tariff deficits in the books of the electricity Distribution Companies. Electricity “The Commission reiterated the urgency to close metering gap and highlighted the strategies put in place for accelerated metering of end-use customers under the Meter Asset Provider Regulations.”
Furthermore, NERC stated that it will continually remain committed to safety approaches through compliance and monitoring.
It is also committed to serving its customers better by swiftly resolving all customer service issues; which by the way are too numerous.
Moving on, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Agency will hold a one-day Stakeholder Meeting sometime this first quarter of 2019. The meeting will serve a platform for stakeholders to make rulemaking consultations for Competition Transition Charge and stakeholder engagement on the provisions of the Eligible Customer Regulation.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, is an independent regulatory body which was created by the Electric Power Reform Act of 2005 for the purpose of regulating the Nigerian power sector.