* As NERC cedes regulatory oversight to states
The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has claimed that power generation in Nigeria increased by about 30 per cent in 2024.
Adelabu said this during his ministry’s 2025 budget defence before the Senate Committee on Power at the National Assembly complex.
He said when he assumed the leadership of the ministry in 2023, he met an average of 4,100 megawatts of power generation.
“I can tell you authoritatively that by the end of 2024, we had a peak generation of 5,528 megawatts of power from 4,100 megawatts that we met on ground.
“And the reason for this is not far-fetched.
We added a new hydroelectric power dam, Zungeru, with 700 megawatts.
“There was also a tremendous increase in the generation lines by other existing generation companies,” he said.
The minister said that the target for power generation was 6,000 megawatts, adding, however, that due to the challenges experienced toward the end of 2024 in terms of grid collapses, the ministry missed the target by minimal margin.
He further said that apart from energy access expansion, the sector had plans to stabilise the grid and other transmission infrastructure.
Meanwhile, the Federal government has announced that commenced the transfer of regulatory oversight of the electricity supply industry to 10 states as of January 10, 2025.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) disclosed this on its official X account on Monday.
According to NERC, the transfer of regulatory oversight has been completed for four states, including Enugu, Ekiti, Ondo, and Imo.
For six states namely Oyo, Edo, Kogi, Lagos, and Ogun, the transfer of oversight commenced on January 10, 2025.
“As of January 10, 2025, NERC has commenced the transfer of regulatory oversight to 10 states. Once the transfers are complete, the states will be in charge of regulating their electricity markets.
“The transfers have been completed for 4 states, namely Enugu, Ekiti, Ondo, and Imo, while 6 states are still in progress,” the Commission stated.
As it stands, Enugu, Ekiti, Ondo, and Imo states can completely regulate their electricity markets, including tariff fixing.
The development is in compliance with the 2023 Electricity Act, which authorised the liberalisation of the country’s power sector.
The latest State that the NERC commenced transfer of regulatory oversight is Niger.