The Enugu State Electricity Regulatory Commission (EERC) has announced urgent intervention measures following severe electricity disruptions across the state.
The outages stemmed from a tariff disagreement between power providers and regulators.
MainPower Electricity Distribution Company Limited, in a statement last week, blamed the drop in electricity supply on its parent company, the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), which scaled down power allocation.
The move came after EERC slashed the electricity tariff for Band A customers from N209/kWh to N160/kWh.
In response, the EERC issued a public notice on Sunday, confirming it had held a meeting with both MainPower and EEDC on Thursday, August 7, 2025, to address the situation.
The commission explained:
“Sequel to the public announcement from MainPower which stated that EEDC, its parent company, directed the curtailing of power supply to Bands B to E Feeders, and the challenges in vending being experienced by the customers in Enugu State, the Enugu State Electricity Regulatory Commission (the Commission) invited MainPower Electricity Distribution Limited (MainPower) to a meeting on Thursday 7th August, 2025 to ascertain the reasons for the decision to curtail power supply in Enugu State and vending challenges being experienced by customers.”
During the meeting, MainPower attributed the disruption to technical issues:
“During the meeting, MainPower explained that they (MainPower and EEDC) were having difficulties separating Enugu State from the rest of the States in the coverage area of EEDC, which challenge was termed ‘code coverage conflicts and related glitches,’ but gave assurance that the issue would be sorted out very soon.”
The Commission also directed MainPower to keep customers informed of ongoing efforts to resolve vending issues:
“The Commission, however, mandated MainPower to formally communicate with the customers on vending challenges and efforts being made to resolve it.”
EERC criticized the supply curtailment, calling it an inappropriate response to the tariff order. It emphasized due process as outlined in its regulatory framework:
“As regards the curtailing of power supply in Enugu, and their dissatisfaction with the Tariff Order from the Commission, thereby plunging parts of the state into darkness, the Commission reminded MainPower of the provisions of the Commission’s Business Rules, which require that they make a formal petition within thirty (30) days of the Commission’s Order if they were not satisfied with the Order, instead of resulting in curtailing of supply. The petition will enable a public hearing on the Tariff Order to which the outcome will be implemented. The Business Rules is accessible to all stakeholders on the Commission’s website (www.eerc.en.gov.ng).”
Reaffirming its commitment to a stable and transparent electricity market, the Commission said it was engaging stakeholders at various levels to ensure both regulatory compliance and fair treatment for all parties:
“The Commission is consulting with relevant stakeholders at the state and federal level and will endeavour to apply appropriate regulatory approach in dealing with this issue to ensure that developers, service providers, customers and Ndi Enugu get the full benefit of the evolving subnational electricity market in the State.”
On the issue of sustainability, the Commission assured that fair business practices would be upheld:
“We will also ensure that MainPower recovers sufficient revenue that covers their efficient costs of doing business in Enugu State plus a fair return on capital invested, as provided in section 34 (2)(b) of the Enugu State Electricity Law 2023.”
