The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) says it is not short of technical competence and that no gap exists in the commission with respect to technical regulation of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).
Sam Amadi, chairman of NERC, stated this on Monday at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja during the public presentation of the Health and Safety Code for NESI.
“I must correct the wrong impression being created by some people that there is no effective technical regulation of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI). This wicked misinformation is aimed at distracting the commission from its core mandates, causing disharmony and derailing the progress made so far in the power sector reform,” the NERC chairman said.
“For putting in place several regulatory instruments to address technical and safety issues arising from across the electricity supply chain spanning through generation, transmission, distribution and utilisation,” Amadi further expressed that “the commission has at one time or the other received support and commendation from the World Bank, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA).”
The Nigerian Electricity Health and Safety Code was put together by a codification committee of stakeholders from distribution companies (Discos), Independent Power Producers (IPPs), Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), power distribution companies (Discos), as well as from the ministries of power and justice, among many others.
The technical regulatory instruments developed in the code, according to the NERC chairman, are in line with international best practices and standards, and are meant to enable NERC carry out its functions as the sole independent technical regulator of the Nigerian power sector.
They include the Grid Code (GC), Distribution Code (DC), Metering Code (MC), as well as the Health and Safety Manual and Code (HSMC). Others are Embedded Generation (EG) regulations, Independent Electricity Distribution Networks Regulations, and the Independent Electricity Transmission Networks Regulations, which have all been approved and are currently operational.
Also, many more technical regulations are being fashioned out and are yet to get approval to become operational.
These are Nigerian Electricity Supply and Installation Standards (NESIS) regulations, Regulation on Smart Metering Standards (RSMS), Regulation on Smart Grid Standard (SGS), Regulation on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for Regulated Assets, Regulation on Electric Fencing (EF), Regulation on Vegetation Control (VC), Regulation on Electric Power System Construction Safety (EPSCS), Regulation on the Registration of Electrical Contractors (REC), Regulation on the Registration of Meter and Instruments and Calibration Stations (RMICS).
“With the codification of the Nigerian Electricity Health and Safety Manual, formal standard rules and penalties have been established for the compliance of all licensed electricity service operators with zero tolerance for fatalities and injuries.”
