According to a notice by the Chairman of the NERC, Prof. James Momoh, the consultations will hold from February 25 to March 11 in 12 locations nationwide.

He said the NERC has received Extraordinary Tariff Review Applications from the eleven (11) Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) and the Transmission Company of Nigeria Plc (TCN).

He said the consultations will hold as follows: Eko Electricity DISCO (February 25); Kaduna (February 25); Abuja (February 26); Ikeja (February 26); and Ibadan, (February 28).

Others are Bauchi (February 28); Asaba (March 2); Calabar (March 2); Yola (March 5); Owerri (March 6); Kano (March 9); and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (March 11).

The notice reads in part: “Pursuant to procedures set out in Section 76 of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2004, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission adopted the Multi-Year Order (MYTO) methodology for electricity pricing in Nigeria, which sets out the basis and pricing principles for effecting minor and major reviews of electricity tariffs in Nigeria.

“The MYTO provides a tariff path for the electricity industry, with bi-annual minor reviews to take into account the impact of changes in a limited number of parameters (specifically inflation, U.S. Dollar exchange rate to naira, natural gas price and available generation capacity) and major reviews every five years, while all other value chain inputs are reviewed with stakeholders.

“Section 9 of the “Regulations on Procedures for Electricity Tariff Reviews in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry” allows for Extraordinary Tariff Review in instances where the utilities can demonstrate that industry parameters have changed from those used in the operating tariffs to such an extent that a review is required urgently in order to maintain industry viability.

“The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has received Extraordinary Tariff Review Applications from the eleven (11) Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) and the Transmission Company of Nigeria Plc (TCN) seeking approval for the following:

“The DisCos have each submitted Performance Improvement Plans (PIP) covering the period 2020-2024 in which the utilities made a case for new capital expenditure allowances over and above the provision in the subsisting MYTO 2015. The justifications advanced included the need to embark on a more aggressive loss reduction, improvement of customer service and the deployment of state-of-the-art-technology to improve delivery.

“The Transmission Company of Nigeria Plc has filed a request for a review of its revenue requirement as a result of its reported significant additional investments in infrastructure currently not captured in its Regulatory Asset Base (RAB). The current stakeholder Consultation process is focusing on a review of the rates for the provision of spinning reserves by GenCos.”

“During the consultations, consumers have the opportunity to comment on what the DisCos are doing right or wrong and additional service needed. They are free to either endorse the new tariff or reject it.

“There are 11 companies and each company has its own cost of operation and level of efficiency.

“The aggregate opinion of consumers nationwide will determine whether or not the tariff increase will be effected.

“Although we are following the laws, we cannot rule out political buy in on a sensitive matter like electricity.

“We have met with the National Assembly, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), NECA and many professional bodies,” a source within the commission said.

Asked of the focus of MAN, the source added “Most of their members sought for uniform tariff. So, the Real Sector is seeking uniform tariff. To NERC, the consumers, including manufacturers, will decide.”

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Momoh made the call on Saturday while delivering a Convocation Lecture titled “Reform of the Power Sector in Nigeria” at the African University of Science and Technology (AUST), Abuja.

He said that the traditional way of operating the universities and colleges should be radically changed to support the sector through research and development.

“Capacity development, innovations and solution providing roles in partnership with other sister research centres is a sure way universities can make impacts on the power sector.

“Special courses and curriculum should be introduced to facilitate a unified knowledge approach towards finding sustainable solutions to existing and emerging demands of the power sector,” he said.

He listed areas of interest in the power sector where universities can leverage on to include; power policy research, design and installation training, smart metering, smart grid, techniques of data mining, among others.

Momoh said that proper policy, research, innovations, application of advanced technology, appropriate regulation and standard with optimised technology are all interconnected in determining the efficiency of the modern electric grid.

“The role of universities and research institutes in promoting efficient power generation, transmission, distribution, market and tariffs cannot be overemphasized,” he said.

Momoh stressed that the engagement of the tertiary institutions and research institutes in synergy with critical stakeholders is crucial to improving electricity supply in the country.

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The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, NERC, Prof James Momoh, who described the methodology as a scientific method to estimate electricity consumption, said it was aimed at bringing fairness to customers who had no meters.

According to him, the provisions of the methodology require that all distribution transformers are metered so as to have a scientific means of deducting the consumption of customers who have meters from the distribution transformer meter and then share what is left appropriately to customers who have no meters.

“The Discos failed to do distribution transformer metering, which the methodology was heavily dependent on for fairness, hence the source of inaccuracy in estimated billing,” Momoh said in the January edition of NERC’s newsletter obtained by our correspondent on Sunday.

He, however, said the commission had maintained the implementation of the methodology of estimated billing and had, in some instances, sanctioned some Discos for overbilling.

According to Momoh, the Regulation on Meter Reading, Cash Collections and Credit Management (2007) states that estimated billing shall only occur where a distribution company is unable to obtain a meter reading at a customer’s premises.

He said, “It is expected that where a consumer is billed an unrealistic amount or crazy bill, he/she should pay the last estimated bill that he/she is comfortable with and then make a formal complaint to the consumer complaints office of the Disco.

“This complaint is expected to be resolved within 15 days. Where this is not done or the customer is unsatisfied with the resolution by the Disco, they may escalate the matter to the NERC forum office.”

Momoh said since the privatisation of the power sector, there had been a constant decline in the provision of meters to existing customers by the Discos while new customers had been added steadily to their networks, contributing to a significant metering gap.

He said investigations by the commission revealed that a total number of 5,172,979 electricity customers were registered as of May 2012, but only 2,893,701 had meters.

He noted that the Discos signed performance agreements with the Bureau for Public Enterprises in 2013, with the provision of 1,640,000 meters expected annually over the next five years.

The NERC boss, however, said the Discos failed to abide by the performance agreement terms and also failed to effectively meter customers under the Credit Advance Payment for Metering Initiative.

“This setback meant that by December 2018, the number of customers had risen to 8,342,880 with 3,558,692 metered and a total of 4,784,188 unmetered and billed on estimates,” Momoh added.

He noted that the Discos had lamented at various times that the tariff granted by virtue of the MYTO 2015 Order remained insufficient for them to carry out the required investments in electricity infrastructure, comprising metering, network clean-up, customer enumeration and improvement to network assets.

Commenting on the metering scheme introduced by the regulator last year, he said, “The commission is currently reviewing the procurement process in the Discos, having appointed tender auditors to audit the Discos and ensure that the Meter Asset Providers appointed are the outcome of a transparent, cost-effective process that will guarantee Nigerians best price of qualitative meters.

“The commission is presently reviewing all submissions by Discos on the procurement of their MAPs. The MAPs will work with the Discos to ensure that the metering gap is closed.”

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The President’s nominee to the Senate for confirmation is a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; and Director of Energy Services and Controls at Howard University, United States of America.

Prof. Momoh, a Life Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and Fellow of the Nigeria Society of Engineers, has over three decades of teaching and research experience in power system, smart grid, optimisation and power communications.

The 1987 recipient of the National Science Foundation-US White House Presidential Young Investigator Award is a widely published scholar and has held several professional leadership positions in the academia.

Prof Momoh has a Doctorate degree in electrical engineering from Howard University; Master’s degrees in systems engineering from the University of Pennsylvania; and electrical engineering from Carnegie University. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1975 from Howard University.

President Buhari, according to a statement by Garba Shehu, strongly believes that Prof Momoh has the technical knowledge, capacity and integrity to lead the Commission’s effort to bring about the much needed CHANGE in Nigeria’s power sector.

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