A proposal by the Senate to review the Electricity Act, 2023, with a view to overhauling Nigeria’s power sector once again presents a crossroads situation for the country. More than anything, the proposal affirms the chaotic and near comatose state of electricity generation, transmission, and distribution that has plagued the country for decades. It is worth recalling that a similar proposal to overhaul the entire electricity provision machinery, through a review of the privatisation exercise preceding the current status, has been pending with the National Assembly for about a year. The lawmakers should also harmonise their efforts so as to make the outcome holistic.
Besides the basics of generating and distributing, the sector requires sanity in its finances, particularly the billing and metering subsectors. And it is time to implement provisions and intendment of the Electricity Act, as well as explore various other means of providing power supply to the generality of Nigerians at domestic, business, and industrial levels. With her huge resources, human and material, this country deserves much better services in the power sector than she is getting presently.
Sponsored by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA – Abia South), the Electricity Act (Amendment) Bill, 2025 represents a sweeping reform aimed at stabilising Nigeria’s electricity sector. Under Section 228 (H)(1) of the bill, the government plans to bar trade unions in the power industry from embarking on strikes or picketing activities without a formally negotiated Minimum Service Agreement. This proposal has understandably triggered the first controversy regarding the overhaul.
The Forum of Commissioners of Power and Energy in the country has expressed strong reservations about the amendment proposal, describing it as concerning and potentially disruptive to the decentralised framework of electricity governance in Nigeria. According to the commissioners, it is both surprising and worrisome that the amendment process of the Electricity Act, 2023—a landmark piece of legislation that aligns with both the spirit and letter of the 1999 Constitution—is being initiated without the adequate involvement of state-level actors, who are primary stakeholders in electricity regulation under the new decentralised framework. The commissioners warn that the bill could trigger a constitutional conflict between the Federal Government and the states.
Reacting to the proposed amendment, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), and the National Union of Electricity Employees have rejected the suggested ban on industrial actions by power sector workers as contained in the bill. The NLC President asserted that the proposed bill, if passed, would not be respected.
“Lawmakers must understand that the Electricity Act is not a labour law. If they want to legislate on labour matters, they must go through the proper framework, consulting all relevant stakeholders, including labour unions, through public hearings. But that didn’t happen here. No consultations, no engagement—this was done in bad faith. The existing Trade Union Act already provides comprehensive guidelines on how labour actions should be carried out in essential sectors. It’s improper to insert labour restrictions into a sectoral law like the Electricity Act. This move is ill-advised, poorly thought out, and it simply will not stand,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Enugu State Electricity Regulatory Commission (EERC) has issued a new tariff to MainPower Electricity Distribution Limited, the utility that succeeded the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), for electricity distribution in the state. The tariff for Band A has been reviewed downward from N209/kWh to N160/kWh, effective from August 1, 2025. Throwing more light on the development, EERC Chairman Chijioke Okonkwo stated that the reduction in tariff became imperative following the Commission’s review of MainPower’s tariff and licence applications as the new Subsidiary Company (SubCo) operating in Enugu State. This development has similarly ignited another controversy that the Senate, indeed, the entire National Assembly will need to address in the lawmakers’ bid to overhaul the system.
In its reaction, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) chided the Enugu State Electricity Regulatory Commission, stating that it lacks the authority to determine electricity tariffs when power is generated and transmitted from the national grid. NERC argues that the tariff set by EERC is unrealistically low because the Federal Government has been subsidising electricity generation costs—paying N45 out of the actual cost of N112 per kilowatt-hour (kWh). This, according to NERC, is how the average tariff of N94 was determined as a reflective tariff at the subnational electricity market level.
A curious observation of this particular disagreement is that while the Electricity Act, passed into law by the immediate past administration of Muhammadu Buhari, has been touted to signal the beginning of decentralisation of the sector, and an attempt to empower states to control their electricity architecture, the NERC feels compelled nevertheless, to exercise regulatory power on the states. It is speculated that other states are bound to take a cue from the Enugu example to control their billing system, thus setting the stage for a face-off with the federal government-controlled NERC. In the midst of all these, stakeholders have noted that recent pronouncements by NERC and the Federal Government regarding electricity tariff increases and regulations have been shrouded in secrecy, confusion, contradictions, and inconsistencies over the past few months.
To be continued tomorrow.
