NERC Lists Sanctions for Load Rejection, Wheeling Deficit

• NERC to sanction erring DisCos and TCN

• Signs guidelines for sanctions
• Lists out sanctions for erring market participants

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has issued the Guidelines for Economic Merit Order Dispatch of Generation Capacity and Related Matters. The Guidelines document was signed on 15th February by the Chairman of the Commission, Engr. Sanusi Garba and the Commissioner Legal, Licensing and Compliance, Dafe Akpeneye.

The Guidelines were issued to hold the DisCos and TCN to the conditions set out in their contracted off-take allocations and dispatch orders. The guidelines list the sanctions to be issued to Distribution Companies (DisCos) and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) during load shedding or wheeling capacity deficit.

The Guidelines provide that where a DisCo fails to off-take its contractual monthly allocation, the DisCo shall pay the capacity and energy charge for the period. Before the newly issued Guidelines, the DisCos had always blamed the TCN for failure to off-take, and TCN, in turn, has done the same.