Babatunde Fashola, minister of
power, works and housing, says the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission
(NERC) has the power to revoke licences of non-performing electricity
distribution companies (DisCos).
Speaking on Thursday at the 2019
Punuka annual lecture in Abuja, Fashola maintained that the regulatory body,
not the minister, could either cancel or amend the licences of the DisCos upon
consumers complaints.
The minister said the powers of
NERC is applicable to all licensed authorities, including the transmission
companies, generation companies, distribution companies and others under the
act.
He said that state governments
are also empowered under the constitution to generate, transmit and distribute
electricity in areas not covered by the national grid.
“The power not to renew or to
revoke operational licence of any of the authority is in sections 73 and 74 of
the Act and so, there is no monopoly granted any agency unless it is endorsed
on their licence,” Fashola said.
“So, there is nothing that stops
the regulator from licensing another person to do the same activities within
their territory as DisCo.
“If you are not serving an area
well, you will get a notice that consumers in the area are not happy and you
will be given a time limit to deal with the problem.
“Upon failure to address the
problem, the regulator can amend your license, take the area out of your
territory and license it to another person or cancel the entire license.”
The Nigerian electricity
distribution sub-sector has been considered the weakest link in the value chain
since privatisation of the power sector in 2013, as it has failed to live up to
the performance expectations.
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