Unsatisfied customers who wish to dump electricity supply from the power distribution company (DisCos) will have to pay heavy charges known as Competition Transition Charge (CTC). The CTC will apply only to large power users.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC,) which slammed the charges in its latest Eligible Customer Regulation, noted that the fees were payable by large power users before they can exit the services of the 11 distribution companies (DisCos). The Eligible Customer Regulation first enacted in 2017, allows unsatisfied power users to leave the supply of Dis- Cos and connect to power plants directly through the services of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
This move has, however, elicited a response from the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), who have now critiqued the payment. MAN asked to become eligible customers (ECs) to evacuate the 2,000 megawatts stranded power taunted by generation companies (Gen- Cos). Like MAN, the National Coordinator of the Transparency Awareness Group (TANGO), Mallam Ibrahim Isah, in a letter, called on the Federal Government and the National Assembly to reverse this guideline as its members provided the power infrastructures to connect to dedicated transmission lines from GenCos without contribution from DisCos. The letter said they should not be made to pay extra charges by NERC.
However, NERC’s latest guideline signed by the Chairman, Prof. James Momoh, said anyone opting out of a DisCo service must pay the Competition Transition Charge (CTC).
“The CTC is to be paid in addition to the transmission charges being paid to TCN, which is a custodian of the 132/33kVa dedicated transmission lines. They excluded the major stakeholders,” the guideline read.
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