nigerian electricity law

Introduction

The matter of electricity generation, transmission and distribution in our contemporary Nigeria, and especially the issue of Customer Services and customer right protection, (many a customer do not even know that has any) are every day hot topical issues. If there is any particular set of law subjects that can be said to be highly vexatiously trending, the issues and matters of electricity distribution/consumption and electricity customer right protection should be a prominent part of that set. Nigerians are made not to know or believe that access to electricity is a right and not just a privilege. Perhaps, as a result of ignorance, most electricity consumers in Nigeria do not get the benefits they ordinarily ought to enjoy from the electricity distribution companies (Discos). The Discos’ attitude of fleecing their customers has meant that a deluge of bitter complaints by disgruntled consumers arise on daily basis. So many electricity consumers have no idea that there are laws and rules upon which electricity distribution operators should carry on their business in Nigeria? Any little ideas some have are still of the lawlessly powerful monopoly called National Electricity Power Authority (NEPA) that was almost totally legally unhinged, long after it had been unbundled and its roles, liability and assets taken over by its several generating, transmitting and distributing successors. This introduction will not be fair and balanced if no remarks are made regarding the careless, and most times, criminal acts of commission and omission of the average Nigerian electricity consumers. The resistance, refusal and failure of the Nigerian electricity consumers to pay their electricity bills, the menace of illegal connections, the rampant electricity theft, all do create so much problems for the Discos and contribute in no small measure to the difficulty they encounter and the very poor service they manage to deliver. It is difficult to pinpoint between the individuals/households and the corporate entity customers, especially Government MDAs who one would expect to be enlightened and more appreciative of the need to act responsibly, which is the worse defaulter. For some obvious reasons, this Note is going to be dealing with mostly issues as they relate to the Discos, the most ubiquitous of the three parts of electric power generation, transmission and distribution. The issues of what relevant laws exist in this post-NEPA era - how they operate and the inherent processes, the rights and duties of both the Discos and their Customers, and what protective covers the laws afford the two sides, are what this HELAR NOTES on Electric Power Sector Law in Nigeria has set out to enlighten the reader on.

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