NERC threatens to cancel licences of Ikeja disco, 7 others

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has threatened to cancel distribution licences of eight distribution companies (discos) over market infractions.

The affected discos are Ikeja Disco, Abuja Disco, Benin Disco, Kaduna Disco, Yola Disco, Enugu Disco, Kano Disco and Port Harcourt Disco.

The regulator said it considered the actions of the aforementioned discos as manifest and flagrant breaches of Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA), terms and conditions of their respective distribution licences and order, therefore requires each of them to show cause in writing within 60 days from the date of receipt as to why their licences should not be cancelled in accordance with section 74 of EPSRA.

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Specifically, NERC accused the discos of failure to meet the expected minimum remittance thresholds for July 2019 billing cycle.

According to NERC, Abuja Disco remitted N2.2billion instead of N3.2billion; Benin Disco remitted N770million instead of N1.32billion; Enugu Disco remitted N400million instead of N1.74billion; Ikeja Disco remitted N2.9billion as against N3.6billion; Kaduna Disco remitted N407milliom as against N684million; Kano Disco remitted N800million instead of N1.089billion; Port Harcourt Disco remitted N382million as against N756million while Yola Disco remitted N194million instead of N252million.

The Commission said it noted the failure of the discos to comply with expected minimum remittance thresholds in the order exposes Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) to systemic risk that threatens the sustainability of other parts of the value chain and the ability to improve service delivery to consumers.

“The commission notes further that the discos failed to provide the minimum financial securitization of their payment obligations to NBET,” it said.