The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has said that seven states now control their electricity markets in accordance with the Electricity Act 2023.
The states are Enugu, Ondo, Ekiti, Imo, Oyo, Edo, and Kogi. Other states, including Lagos, Ogun, Niger, and Plateau, are expected to complete their transitions between June and September. Anambra, having recently passed its electricity law, is also gearing up to join the list.
Before President Bola Tinubu signed the new Electricity Act in 2023 with the Federal Government, NERC was the only agency regulating electricity in Nigeria.
However, the decentralisation of the sector by the Act has now given states the authority to control and regulate electricity within their domains, granting them the freedom to generate, transmit, and distribute power.
This marks a historic shift in Nigeria’s electricity governance, from a centrally regulated structure to one where states are empowered to generate, transmit, distribute, and regulate electricity within their borders and only submit to national oversight by the NERC.
The PUNCH