The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has said that since states have no jurisdiction over the national grid, they have no power to deviate from the tariff set for the energy supply from the grid.

The management made its position known in a Public Notice on the “Application of Multiple Tariff Regimes in Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).”

The public notice came on heels of the controversy over the Enugu Electricity Regulatory Commission (EERC) reduction of tariff for the Band A customers in its franchise areas from N209 per kWh to N160/kWh.

While operators in the NESI value chain such as the electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) and electricity Generation Companies (GenCos) have condemned the downward review, EERC has based the rate crash on the sufficiency of the Federal Government.

NERC and the utility providers in NESI have however expressed fears that the other states electricity commissions might toe the line of Enugu

NERC however said: “As States do not have jurisdiction over the national grid and over electric power stations established under federal laws/operating under licences issued by the Commission; they must holistically

incorporate the wholesale costs of grid supply to their States without any qualification or deviation in their design of tariffs for end-use customers in order not to distort the dynamics of the market or be prepared to make a policy intervention by way a subsidy for any deviation in the tariff structure that distorts the wholesale generation, transmission and legacy financing costs in NESI.”

The public notice said NERC’s attention has been drawn to the increasing stakeholders’ concerns on the Tariff Order (Order No. EERC/2025/003) by the Enugu State Electricity Regulatory Commission (“EERC”) to its Licensee Manpower Electricity Distribution Limited (“MEDL”) that relies exclusively on electricity supply (generation and transmission) from the national grid. NESI stakeholders, according to NERC, have expressed concern about the consequences of the reduction of tariffs for Band A customers in MEDL’s network area to NGN160.4 per kWh and the freezing of tariffs of customers in the other bands on the wholesale generation and transmission costs along with the financing costs for legacy obligations in NESI.

NERC insisted that the N160.4/kWh was predicated on an assumption of N45.7/kWh subsidy payment.

Continuing, the commission said “Section 34(1) of the EA places a statutory obligation on the Commission to “create, promote and preserve efficient electricity industry and market structures, and ensure the optimal utilization of resources for the provision of electricity” and we are also aware that EERC as a sub-national electricity regulator also has a similar statutory obligation in their enabling law; and neither NERC nor EERC as responsible regulatory institutions would take decisions that expose the national grid and wholesale electricity market to a financial crisis in contravention of express powers granted to them by the Constitution.

“All stakeholders are advised to note that the Commission is currently engaging EERC on their tariff order as it relates to any perceived area of misinterpretation/misunderstanding on wholesale generation and transmission costs on their import of power from the national grid and grants further assurances of its unwavering statutory commitment that the electricity market will be made whole in terms of cost recovery in compliance with the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.” (The Nation)