Court dismisses MAN’s suit challenging electricity tariff hike

EKEDC completes essential technical upgrades and restores vending services, enhancing customer experience and electricity consumption management. — Electricity tariff hike .

A federal High Court in Lagos has struck out the case filed by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) against the 11 distribution companies (DisCos) for hiking electricity tariff for Band A customers.

In a statement yesterday, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) said the ruling was delivered on Monday. In the judgment, the court held that the suit was premature, and failed to comply with Section 51 of the Electricity Act 2023.

It further held that MAN’s case lacked a reasonable cause of action, as it had not fully utilised the dispute resolution mechanism. Consequently, the court ruled that the suit was not filed in accordance with due process, and thus dismissed it.

After the electricity tariff for Band A customers increased from N66 to N225 per kilowatt hour, MAN filed a lawsuit against the DisCos, arguing that regulatory procedures for tariff reviews were not properly followed before NERC issued the Supplementary Order on April 3, 2024, and the revised rate on May 6.

MAN had instructed its members across the federation to continue to pay the previous rate of N66/kWh to the distribution companies pending a resolution of the petition filed by the association to NERC. MAN claimed that they were being unfairly targeted with high electricity tariffs.

However, according to some manufacturers, the DisCos went ahead to disconnect them. According to MAN, the increase appears to be part of a government strategy to shift the burden of electricity cross-subsidy on to them, a responsibility previously borne by the government before it ceased subsidising the sector.

Furthermore, the association contended that applying the tariff increase solely to Band “A” feeders, while excluding others constituted discrimination against those consumers.

On its part, the regulator objected the suit, stating that MAN’s case constitutes an abuse of court processes, being hasty and prematurely filed without following due process of the law. When contacted, the association said it is not responding to “this temporary setback,” and would act in due time.