BPE Tackles DisCos Over NERC’s Policy
- Rejects force majeure notice
BY COBHAM NSA, ABUJA – Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr Alex Okoh said there is no basis for Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) to issue notice declaring force majeure over the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC)’s policy directive on Eligible Customers and the Eligible Customer Regulations.
Accordingly, Okoh is challenging the DisCos’ assertion that there has been a change in law and political force majeure event pursuant to certain clauses in the Performance Agreement signed between the DisCos’ core investors and BPE.
He said in a letter to the DisCos that the Bureau does not have any tenable reason to endorse their so-called notice seeking to declare force majeure over NERC’s policy directive for effective service delivery in the nation’s power sector.
The DisCos had claimed that the policy directive on Eligible Customers and the Eligible Customer Regulations have resulted in a change of law which prevents them from fulfilling their obligations under the Performance Agreement.
However, a statement by Chukwuma Nwokoh, BPE’s Head, Public Communications, quoted Mr Okoh as saying that; “pursuant to the Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2005, it is obvious that the Minister of Power, Works and Housing is empowered to issue the policy directive specifying the class or classes of end-use customers that shall constitute Eligible Customers. In the same vein, NERC is similarly empowered to issue Eligible Customer Regulations.”
Furthermore, he stated that: “as you are aware, this is the same Act which midwifed the process whereby the power assets were privatized to the core investors. Given that the Declaration and the Regulations were lawfully and validly issued by the Minister and NERC, and that there has been no change in the law giving rise to a political force majeure event, we are unable to see the basis for the issuance of the notice.”
The BPE boss said as the contracting party on behalf of the Nigerian government to the agreements that governed the privatisation of the power assets to the core investors, the Bureau therefore rejects the DisCos’ notice to declare force majeure.
