Power: NERC to Clip Operators’ Overbearing Influence

Chineme Okafor Apprehensive of the growing positional powers of operators in Nigeria’s electricity industry, as well as its impact on electricity consumers across board, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) yesterday set in motion actions that will see to the emergence of a focused consumer advocacy group in the industry.

NERC, in recognition of what it called a “deficit of consumer voice and power” in Nigeria’s electricity industry, explained that it hoped to redefine the way electricity consumers carry out advocacy.

It stated that the present mode of operation in the industry grants operators considerable advantage over all the governance institutions in the market, adding that operators in this regard have the opportunity and resources to shape rules and decisions to their favour, thereby leaving consumers on the fringes.

The Chairman of NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, said at the convocation of an advocacy network known as the Nigerian Electricity Consumers Advocacy Network (NECAN) in Abuja that such undue operators’ advantages also undermine transparent and accountable processes which define a fairly regulated electricity market.

He said the commission wants to cut down such overbearing influences, by introducing and sustaining democratic processes and models in the way decision and choices are arrived at by operators and consumers in the sector, hence the network.

“We have institutionalised anti-corruption practices and procedures to inoculate NERC against regulatory capture, but in spite of our noble intent and progressive actions, outcomes are still not fair to consumers,” Amadi said