Following
completion of an audit exercise of its licensees, the Nigerian Electricity
Regulatory Commission (NERC), on Tuesday, requested 27 power generation
companies to, within the next 30 days, provide justification on why their
licences should not be cancelled.
The notice for
cancellation of licensees posted on the commission’s website on Tuesday was
sequel to the discovery, through an audit exercise, that the affected firms
could not meet the terms and conditions for their licences.
Contained in the
notice are 63 generation and distribution companies rated as category one, who
are in operations and have no issue with the commission.
Forty other firms
in categories one to four will, however, have to justify their continued
ownership of their licences or get it withdrawn within the next 30 days to 12
months.
In category two
are those licensees that have ceased operations. These are CET Power Projects
promoted by West African Portland Cement Company, Ewekoro, Ogun State and
Contour Global Solutions of Nigeria Bottling Company of Apapa, Lagos State.
The commission,
in its notice, is to immediately “start the process of cancellation of these
licences in line with Clause 17 of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act of
2005” which listed five conditions for cancellation of licences.
Thirteen other
power generation firms in category three are “not in operations but have
substantially satisfied their milestones.” These are Ethiope Energy, Supertek
Nigeria, Mabon Energy, Bresson AS, Hudson Power, Knox J & L, Tower Power,
Abeokuta; Zuma Energy Nigeria transferred to Itobe Coal 1, 2, 3 and 4 firms.
Others in this
category are MBH Power, Delta Electric Power, Wedotebary Nigeria, Century Power
Generation and Supertek Electric.
Those in this
category will “be required to satisfy their outstanding milestones and start
construction within the next 12 months, failure which the commission will
commence the process for withdrawal of their licences in line with clause 18 of
the NERC Application for Licences (Generation, Transmission, System Operations,
Distribution and Trading) Regulations, 2009.”