Power distribution companies (Discos) in Nigeria
have asked the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to focus on
solving the challenges of the country’s power sector and not get busy with
efforts to gag them from speaking out on issues that affect their operations.
Responding to a recent order to them by the NERC to
restrain their umbrella association-the Association of Nigerian Electricity
Distributors (ANED)-from speaking on policy statements or actions made by it or
the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, the Discos
said their rights to associate are protected by Section 40 of the country’s
constitution.
NERC had in a communique issued after a meeting
with the Discos in August said that ANED’s activities would no longer be
tolerated by it, and that the association should no longer interfere with
policy directives or regulatory pronouncements made by it or Fashola.
It equally barred ANED from making any unwarranted
remark against Fashola and its commissioners.
But in a statement signed by ANED’s Chief Executive
Officer, Azu Obiaya, and sent to the media on Wednesday in Abuja, the Discos indicated ANED was a legal association
set up to protect their interests just like other associations in the country’s
power sector.
According to them, ANED’s activities were supported
by Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under
the right of association, adding that ANED represented them with a principal
mandate of advocacy to protect the interests of member companies directly and
indirectly, the incomes of a 22,000 of their workforce.
“The Discos, with their formation of, and
membership of ANED, are exercising this right no different from similar
entities along the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) value chain,
such as the Association of Power Generating Companies (APGC), Nigerian Gas
Association (NGA), National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE),the investors
who have sunk more than $1.4 billion in the acquisition and operations of the
Discos till date, and our customers who seek to enjoy the benefits of the best
practices that result from the interaction of our members under the ANED
umbrella,” the statement noted.
The statement also stated that ANED’s expression or
promotion of viewpoints that are contrary to that of an established regulation
or policy should not be misunderstood as interference, particularly in the
context of the workings of an industry with multiple stakeholder interests.
They noted the need for the NERC to address the
widening tariff gap that has reportedly kept them from performing their
obligations to the sector.
According to them, NERC’s freezing of residential
tariff classes in 2015 for 18 months; removal of collection losses from the
tariff in 2015 and non-implementation of five tariff reviews were responsible
for the gap.
Discos further asked the NERC to focus its regulatory
job on resolving the sector’s N435.7 billion under-recovered revenue.
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