The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has ruled that all electricity users connected to 132 and 330 kilovolt high tension lines still remain customers of the 11 Distribution Companies (DisCos).
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) had petitioned NERC insisting that the customers since they are under their networks should be removed from the DisCos’ accounts and made eligible customers.
TCN had argued that it continued servicing those customers but DisCos billed and collected the revenue. In a ruling on the Supplementary Order on the Transitional Electricity Market (TEM) on August 28, 2019, NERC however said Condition 29 of the terms and conditions of TCN’s licence issued by it (NERC) prohibited it from the purchase and sale of electricity.
“TCN’s primary responsibility is the wheeling power and it does not have any rights to this power. “DisCos have a composite licence which enables the utilities operate the “wire” business and electricity trading,” NERC added.
It also barred the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) from invoicing or billing those customers. “There is therefore no contractual basis for NBET to invoice customers connected at 132kV voltage level unless the customer decides to exit the services of the DisCo,” NERC ruled.
The regulator however, referred to the Eligible Customer Regulation to give 132/330kV customers options to leave DisCos’ services.
Those customers can choose to be eligible customers and contract with Generation Company (GenCo) under a Transmission Use of System (TUOS) Agreement with the Transmission Service Provider (TSP), a TCN department.
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