NERC to unveil new rules in power sector

BEDC ‘uncovers plot 

to foment trouble’

THE Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has issued a new order directing all electricity market participants on the take-off of the Transitional Stage of the Electricity Market (TEM).

  NERC Chairman, Sam Amadi, said the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) attained the much-awaited Transitional Electricity Market (TEM) stage on February 1, 2015 and has approval for the commencement of a contract-based trading era in the industry.

  What this means is that the interim rules, under which operators and utilities operated, would now give way for the full market rules and application. The enforcement of the said market rules would now be in full force.

  The commission further directed all relevant market participants, service providers and the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) to comply with effect from February 1, 2015.

  Amadi said that from that date, the market would be governed with strict application of the terms and conditions of the Multi Year Tariff Order 2.1 (MYTO 2.1) that was approved on December 24, 2014 and became effective from January 1, 2015.

   Also, the Federal Government yesterday launched out a major investment drive to encourage local and international investors to partner with it to provide off-grid, especially for rural dwellers that are far away from public electricity.

 Meanwhile, the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) said yesterday that it has uncovered plots by some faceless group to use President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign rally holding in the Edo State capital today to foment trouble in the guise of demonstrating against the firm and privatization.

  The Chief Security Officer of BEDC, Lt.-Col. Isaac Edoka (rtd), who disclosed this in a statement yesterday, said the matter has been reported to law enforcement agencies.

   Besides, BEDC yesterday said that it received 240Mega Watt (MW) from the national grid instead of about 900MW required by the company to serve Edo, Delta, Ondo and Ekiti states.

The electricity firm, which said this in a statement, explained that this under-supply was responsible for the load shedding among customers in the four states.

 The statement signed by Chief Corporate Service Officer, Mrs Kunbi Labiyi, added that some protestrrs, who besieged the company, understood the challenge when these facts were presented to them “and realised there was no basis for their demonstration.”