On Thursday, October 10, 2024, a Federal High Court in Lagos strike out the lawsuit wey the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) file against the increase in electricity tariff. The court say the lawsuit no follow the due process and dey premature.
The court rule say MAN no comply with Section 51 of the Electricity Act 2023 and dat their case lack reasonable cause of action. According to the court, MAN no fully use the dispute resolution mechanism before going to court.
MAN file the lawsuit after the electricity tariff for Band A customers increase from N66 to N225 per kilowatt hour. Dem argue say the regulatory procedures for tariff reviews no dey properly followed before the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) issue the Supplementary Order on April 3, 2024, and the revised rate on May 6, 2024.
MAN also claim say applying the tariff increase only to Band “A” feeders while excluding other bands dey discriminatory against those consumers. However, NERC object to the suit, saying MAN’s case constitute an abuse of court processes and dey hasty and prematurely filed without following due process of the law.
Before dis, MAN instruct their members to continue pay the previous rate of N66/kWh to the distribution companies (DISCOs) pending a resolution of the petition dem file to NERC. MAN claim say dem dey unfairly targeted with high electricity tariffs and say the increase appear to be part of a government strategy to shift the burden of electricity cross-subsidies onto dem.
